Awards from the Barcelona World Race 2014-2015 presentedThe ceremony was held at the Barcelona Maritime MuseumSponsors and scientific and educational institutions collaborating with the event, honored at receptionThe event proclaimed the new world champion IMOCA Ocean Masters, Jean Le Cam

Barcelona's historic Maritime Museum was the perfect venue this afternoon for the prizegiving and awards ceremony for the 2014-15 Barcelona World Race. The reception honoured all of the eight pairs of skippers who competed in the race, particularly highlighting the top three finishers: Cheminées Poujoulat, Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos.

On behalf of the organisers and the skippers, thanks were extended to all of the sponsors and supporters of the event which combines sport with adventure, science and education.

All of the schools, universities and scientific institutions which collaborated with the different programmes and initiatives of the Barcelona World Race were afforded special recognition.

Jean Le Cam (FRA) was crowned IMOCA Ocean Masters World Champion, the IMOCA World Championship concluding with this 2014-15 Barcelona World Race. Second was Bernard Stamm (SUI) and third, Guillermo Altadill (ESP.

The ceremony opened with one minute's silence observed in memory of the victims of a tragic school shooting in Barcelona yesterday and for the loss of lives in the Mediterranean on Sunday.

The key awards were presented by Jean Kerhoas, the president of the IMOCA class, Sir Keith Mills, president of Open Sports Management, the organisers of the IMOCA Ocean Masters World Championship, by Xavier Carbonell, managing director of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation of Barcelona, by José Ángel Rodríguez, president of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation and by Xavier Torres, president of the Catalan Sailing Federation.Jean Pierre Dick, the French skipper who won the first two editions of the Barcelona World Race was in attendance, choosing to visit the prizegiving to honour his peers.

A key event for BarcelonaThe Mayor of the Catalan capital Xavier Trias did not attend the awards ceremony because of official mourning, but sent a message of support, highlighting the importance of the Barcelona World Race for the city:"This edition of the Barcelona World Race has become a benchmark of how to project to society the values ??of sport and the knowledge of an event at the highest level. The city of Barcelona is good at this way of communicating sport, knowing how to develop and add value value to the usually elite business of ocean racing."

The highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of trophies to athletes. The winners of the race, Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam, accepted the warm applause of their rivals and peers which honoured their extraordinary race aboard Cheminées Poujoulat, setting the new reference time of 84 days 05 hours, 50 minutes and 25 seconds.

The other podium finishers, second placed Neutrogena of Guillermo Altadill and José Muñoz, and the third placed GAES Centros Auditivos of AnnaCorbella and Gerard Marín received loud applause when they accepted their prizes. But all of the eight teams were recognised, not least for their collaboration in scientific projects commissioned by various institutions such as UNESCO. So skippers of One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton, the We Are Water, the Renault Captur, the Spirit of Hungary and also Hugo Boss also received their awards.

The reception opened just after midday with a the welcome and appreciation of the sponsors of the teams and the event. Cheminées Poujoulat, sponsor of the winner, was represented by its Director of Communication and Promotion, Benoit Bodineau. Neutrogena had Myriam Nissim, Brand Manager in attendance. Conchita Gassó represented GAES Centros Auditivos Boehringer Ingelheim had Santi Cull, Director of Communications and Public Affairs there. Xavier Torras, director of We Are Water has attended the event as part of this foundation. Renault had Luis Subías, director of Renault Retail Group Barcelona, ??and Javier Sánchez-Oliva, Head of External Communications and Public Relations for Renault in Spain. The Damm Group was represented by marketing director, Jaume Alemany.

On behalf of educational and scientific institutions Jordi Serra is delegate rector for Sustainability at the University of Barcelona; Agustí M allofré Martin, Dean of Institutional Relations at the School of Nautical Studies Barcelona at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya; Josep Trigo is of the Chief Development Advisory Council of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra; Jordi Teixidó, dean of IQS; Javier Peña, head of the Degree Courses in Engineering from the Escola Elisava; Gemma Amat, director of the Escola Massana Centre of Art and Design; Albert Palanques, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences, CSIC; Jordi Baldrich, vice Management Community Services of the Generalitat de Catalunya; Gualis Bethlehem, the Chiron-Teknon, medical director of the Barcelona World Race Medical Center; Luis Valdés, director of Ocean Sciences Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.

04/21/2015Awards from the Barcelona World Race 2014-2015 DeliveredThe ceremony was held at the Barcelona Maritime MuseumSponsors and scientific and educational institutions collaborating with the event, honored at receptionThe event has been proclaimed the new world champion IMOCA Ocean Masters, Jean Le CamBarcelona's historic Maritime Museum was the perfect venue this afternoon for the prizegiving and awards ceremony for the 2014-15 Barcelona World Race. The reception honoured all of the eight pairs of skippers who competed in the race, particularly highlighting the top three finishers: Cheminées Poujoulat, Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos. On behalf of the organisers and the skippers, thanks were extended to all of the sponsors and supporters of the event which combines sport with adventure, science and education.All of the schools, universities and scientific institutions which collaborated with the different programmes and initiatives of the Barcelona World Race were afforded special recognition.Jean Le Cam (FRA) was crowned IMOCA Ocean Masters World Champion, the IMOCA World Championship concluding with this 2014-15 Barcelona World Race. Second was Bernard Stamm (SUI) and third, Guillermo Altadill (ESP.The ceremony opened with one minute's silence observed in memory of the victims of a tragic school shooting in Barcelona yesterday and for the loss of lives in the Mediterranean on Sunday.The key awards were presented by Jean Kerhoas, the president of the IMOCA class, Sir Keith Mills, president of Open Sports Management, the organisers of the IMOCA Ocean Masters World Championship by Xavier Carbonell, managing director of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation of Barcelona, by José Ángel Rodríguez, president of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation and by Xavier Torres, president of the Catalan Sailing Federation.

Jean Pierre Dick, the French skipper who won the first two editions of the Barcelona World Race was in attendance, choosing to visit the prizegiving to honour his peers.A key event for BarcelonaThe Mayor of the Catalan capital Xavier Trias did not attend the awards ceremony because of official mourning, but sent a message of support, highlighting the importance of the Barcelona World Race for the city:"This edition of the Barcelona World Race has become a benchmark of how to project to society the values ??of sport and the knowledge of an event at the highest level. The city of Barcelona is good at this way of communicating sport, knowing how to develop and add value value to the usually elite business of ocean racing."The highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of trophies to athletes. The winners of the race, Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam, accepted the warm applause of their rivals and peers which honoured their extraordinary race aboard Cheminées Poujoulat, setting the new reference time of 84 days 05 hours, 50 minutes and 25 seconds.

The other podium finishers, second placed Neutrogena of Guillermo Altadill and José Muñoz, and the third placed GAES Centros Auditivos of Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín received loud applause when they accepted their prizes. But all of the eight teams were recognised, not least for their collaboration in scientific projects commissioned by various institutions such as UNESCO. So skippers of One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton, the We Are Water, the Renault Captur, the Spirit of Hungary and also Hugo Boss also received their awards.

The reception just after midday with a the welcome and appreciation of the sponsors of the teams and the event. Cheminées Poujoulat, sponsor of the winner, was represented by its Director of Communication and Promotion, Benoit Bodineau. Neutrogena had Myriam Nissim, Brand Manager in attendance. Conchita Gassó represented GAES Centros Auditivos Boehringer Ingelheim had Santi Cull, Director of Communications and Public Affairs there. Xavier Torras, director of We Are Water has attended the event as part of this foundation. Renault had Luis Subías, director of Renault Retail Group Barcelona, ??and Javier Sánchez-Oliva, Head of External Communications and Public Relations for Renault in Spain. The Damm Group was represented by marketing director, Jaume Alemany.

On behalf of educational and scientific institutions Jordi Serra is delegate rector for Sustainability at the University of Barcelona; Agustí Mallofré Martin, Dean of Institutional Relations at the School of Nautica l Studies Barcelona at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya; Josep Trigo is of the Chief Development Advisory Council of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra; Jordi Teixidó, dean of IQS; Javier Peña, head of the Degree Courses in Engineering from the Escola Elisava; Gemma Amat, director of the Escola Massana Centre of Art and Design; Albert Palanques, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences, CSIC; Jordi Baldrich, vice Management Community Services of the Generalitat de Catalunya; Gualis Bethlehem, the Chiron-Teknon, medical director of the Barcelona World Race Medical Center; Luis Valdés, director of Ocean Sciences Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.

Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman finish seventh in the Barcelona World Race on Spirit of Hungary

Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman crossed the finish line of the Barcelona World Race this Monday20th April at 22:59:40 hrs UTC (00:59:40 Tues 21st CET) to complete their race in seventh place and effectively close the course for this third edition of the double-handed non-stop around the world race.Respectively the oldest and youngest skippers in the eight boat field which left Barcelona on 31st December 2014, Hungarian Fa, 61, and New Zealander Colman, 31, took 110 days, 10hrs, 59 mins secs to complete the 23 321 miles at an average speed of 8.8 kts for the theoretical course which passes all three Great Capes: Good Hope, Leeuwin and Cape Horn and for the first time did not pass between North and South Islands, New Zealand.

The duo actually sailed a measured 27,575.28 miles at an average speed of 10.4 kts. They finished 26 days and 5 hours after race winners Cheminees Poujoulat and 4 days and 11 hours 24 mins after sixth placed Renault Captur.

Fa and Colman finished off Barcelona this Monday night to loud, partisan acclaim, relieved and so visibly happy to have completed their race together."I am here, we are here. I can't believe we have done it! We are here! Here we are!" Fa screamed into the darkness, punching the air for minutes on end.

They are a duo which started out as all but strangers to each other but finished as a tight, hard working, driven, passionate and gritty partnership, tempered by the very many challenges - physical, mental and emotional - which they rose to and won over together.

Though from different ends of the age spectrum and blessed with correspondingly different racing philosophies and working modes, Fa and Colman have shared the same vision and goals - paramount are self and boat preservation and enjoying the ride, the simple pleasures of being at sea - and made it work for them both. Patience and tolerance were their abiding watchwords, written large in the cabin walls inside the boat Fa designed and built himself.

From long before the start it was clear their race would be compromised by how late the Spirit of Hungary project was forced to run. A very large amount of last minute work was required to get the boat, which is designed by Fa and largely built by him, to the start line.This was, in effect, the maiden race for Fa's Spirit of Hungary and to finish their circumnavigation against odds which would have stopped many other teams represents a huge achievement.

They have robustly confounded the skeptics, the doubters at the start who looked at their hasty preparation and the unproven, untested boat and expected them to be the first duo to be forced to abandon the race. Instead they approached each problem methodically and with an open mind and found solutions together. For Fa the successful end to his first Barcelona World Race completes his fourth circumnavigation, for Colman his second.

When they started Colman joked that they had never even gybed Spirit of Hungary's gennaker together, which they hadn't. Their lack of experience as a crew did put them on the back foot from the first hours of the race. Even if conditions were only very light, they did not manage to match the pace of the next slowest boats and by Gibraltar they were already over 200 miles behind the next boat in front of them.

Fa and Colman were initially dstuck in a calm zone in the Alboran Sea for many hours. Just when they were really able to press better spee ds out of Spirit of Hungary they were forced to make a technical pit stop in Bluff, South Island NZ. A combination of a jammed, damaged headboard car slide on the mainsail, and damaged keelbolts, made the prudent decision to make their technical pit stop.

But with only Colman's Auckland based uncle as shore support, they started again exhausted but were able to have a relatively straighforwards race to Cape Horn. Failing keelbolts became a serious issue. At 1000 miles from the Horn Fa realised there was a material problem and they spent many hours ready to leave the boat, grab bags and survival suits at hand. By the north Atlantic two keelbolts on one side of the forward mountings had failed.

Somewhat contrary to the usual challenges of the race course, it was prolonged periods of calm which caused more frustration for Fa and Colman. They were trapped on either side of the Doldrums both times, slowed in the Alboran Sea outwards and return, slowed in the South Atlantic an d the Pacific, and even spent the best part of one week racing upwind in the south Pacific.

Their race became very detached from their rivals but Fa and Colman always spoke with alacrity, clearly enjoying most days on Spirit of Hungary, epecially the Big South. Most of all they have used their race as valuable experience towards the next solo non stop around the world race, the Vendée Globe which both hope to compete in.

QuotesNandor Fa (HUN): "I always knew we would finish but we had three principles to stick to in order to make it, tolerance of each other, patience and just focusing on finishing the race as top priority. These two main things were written on the wall in the cabin: tolerance and patience and they helped us all the way.The race itself was so hard. It was hard, we had to fight all the way but we did it together and built a great understanding.The worst time was with the keelbolts. I did some calculations and knew what we could do but the stress was so high and always there.

Conrad Colman (NZL):"We started out as strangers, not really knowing anything about each other but we sweated together, we bled together and we worked hard together and made it work. It was an amazing experience and Nandor was incredible to sail with.

Nandor Fa: "Conrad is just great. He is so much like me 20 years ago and so it was easy for me to understand where he was coming from and what he wants to achieve, I can identify so much of me 20 years ago, yes we had strong words now and again but they were soon gone, but we made it work together and he is such an incredible guy to sail with. He is like my younger brother, he is just like a brother now." ;

Nandor Fa: Our deepest wish was to be here and to finish and here we are. We were asked at the press conference before the start what our objective was and I said to be here at the finish and here we are. We had to fight. It was not easy, because of the weather, because of our problems with ourselves and with the boat. But we worked very hard and we worked perfectly as a team with this young man - it was perfect - and finally we finished. Maybe the time we have performed is not what I wanted. I wanted to be within 100 days be we lost so many days in different weather problems which we could not avoid at all. We ran into windless areas. We had one week upwind in the south Indian Ocean. And I don't think the time we have really reflects the performance we have made and the performance. It maybe was a little bit cheeky to go to the start line with a boat which was just launched, which we had just finished and for not making had any training, and to have some sails missing. But we paid the price for all these things. But at last we were over all these problems and our deepest wish was to come back and finish here.

This was so important for me to learn abous myself. I can learn and I can train but I needed to know if I was still the same Nandor I was 25 years ago. And I wanted to know who I am and how much I am. Can I can this racing sailing that is not what i did in the past. The boats are so different, the speeds are much higher, and everything is different, just different. There are so many things to learn. Physically I realise that yes, I am OK for going solo, and I feel strong enough and know myself well enough to take on the Vendée Globe.

Nandor Fa:" There were very small things and some very big things. At the beginning of the Southern Ocean we lost the main halyard and we were close to retiring because we could not hoist and we could not drop the mainsail. The upper block wa sbroken. The halyard cut the mast tub e by 30cms. We climbed the mast and cut it off. We made sail blocks at the top of the mast and from that moment we had to sail with one reef, we could not use the full mainsail. That was a serious problem. We had to solve it. We had a locking system for the mainsail which did not work. It was stuck and we could not get it up or down. That was why decided to stop in New Zealand. Meantime I realised one of the keelbolts was broken. In the beginning I thought it was just an individual problem. We changed a couple of boats. We lifted the boat and worked on it two days. And then we were sailing to Cape Horn and we started into quite heavy conditions, we were making over 18kts of average speeds. In these conditions I realised another keelbolt was broken. And from that point on we realised the material is wrong, something is wrong. From that point, 1000 miles before Cape Horn, we sailed with the grab bag ready and in survival suits ready to leave the boat any time. I was pretty sure that at any time. If the keel went it would tear a big hole in the boat and the boat would be gone. We would sink. Meantime I did some calculations and realised that the keel is a safe position when it is canted. From that moment we sailed with the keel at full cant. Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute I was waiting to lose the keel and I said that if we finished I would thank God. It was really critical but Conrad was a great partner all this time, he never, ever said 'Nandor I think we should....'"

Willy and Bruno Garcia reflect on their fifth place finishRenault Captur forecast to reach Gibraltar on April 12Spirit of Hungary racing to be back for the prizegiving on April 21One Planet One Ocean & Pharmton designer praises the skippers

Last night was a time for celebration for Bruno and Willy Garcia, who finished the Barcelona World Race in fifth place, and for the fellow competitors who greeted them.

But after greeting their loved ones, there was also some time to reflect on their achievements at a busy, lively press conference. Bruno was particularly keen to pay tribute to Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa, with whom they shared such prolonged and close competition for fourth place: "One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton had the better race, I think they deserve it, and it is the only bittersweet part, but everything is compensated by the arrival and by a dream come true which is doing the round the world race with my little brother, a fantastic round the world, very tough, very intense.

"It made our days fly by. There were days that we said to each other: 'How can that be, it's night again?' It has been phenomenal. Then the result... we would have liked to win, because we are competitors, but it has been very good. After all, this is a race. We have really had one hell of a race."

Asked to pick their most memorable moments from the race, both struggled. "There are many," commented Willy, "From crossing Cape Horn to the first days in the Southern Ocean, the first low, the first front, the climb north, crossing the Straits of Gibraltar again, the truth is they are many different emotions. There are also bad days, when you have a low on top of you, the tension and worry. I mean, I could not pick just one moment. Today, the day of the arrival, the start, the aurora..."

A significant highlights for both was the fact that hey completed the race non-stop. "From the team and boat points of view, it is a 10, it could not be done better. Despite having such a short time, we were so well prepared, and arriving... we haven't made any pit-stop, we haven't stopped! We have been able to manage with t he technical teams' advice so, I think this is a 10, it is impossible to do better," commented Bruno.

The other unique element to their voyage is, of course, that they did it together as brothers. Willy Garcia: "I know him very well. Obviously I know him better now, but I also know myself better now, and I think he knows himself much better. You go through many adverse or tense situations, that you get to know yourself much better."

The legend lives on

With the end of each team's race, the history of each boat gains another chapter. Merfyn Owen of Owen Clarke Design designed the oldest boat in the race, One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaaton back in 2000 before Ellen MacArthur famously sailed her to second place in the 2000-01 Vendee Globe (as Kingfisher). Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa sailed her to fourth place. Owen responded to Gelabert's modest assertion that they had not contributed to the legend of the boat, saying: "Alex is wrong. I think he and Didac have made the legend bigger. What they've achieved given their experience before this race is remarkable, and they did it without stopping and only 14 days behind one of the latest Open 60s.

"No one has a God-given right to make it around the world in a racing sailboat, that's challenge enough but to have done it in style like this, they deserve to be very proud of themselves... average 11.8 knots!"

Back in the Atlantic

But the Barcelona World Race is not over yet. Sixth-placed Renault Captur today passed the 1,000-mile mark to the finish and is currently around 380 miles from Gibraltar. Jörg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane are expected to pass through the Straits on Monday, April 12th., although the northerlies they have been reaching east in look set to fade thanks to a dissipating low pressure system south-west of Portugal. Renaul t Captur was this afternoon making 11.8 knots of boatspeed (1400hrs UTC), but likely to sail into winds of just 5-10 knots over the next 24 hours.

Spirit of Hungary, meanwhile, is back on a northerly track having tacked twice in the past 24 hours, around 620 miles south-west of the Canaries. This morning Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman also broke through 2,000-miles to the finish, and are currently expected at Gibraltar around April 16th. The challenge for the seventh-placed team is to arrive in Barcelona by April 21, when the prizegiving for the Barcelona World Race will be held with the 14 fellow skippers. Spirit of Hungary continues to make steady progress at 9-10 knots, with trade winds expected to strengthen over the course of this afternoon and into tomorrow.

Bruno Garcia:One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton had the better race, I think they deserve it, and it is the only bittersweet part, but everything is compensated by the arrival and by a dream come true which is doing the round the world race with my little brother, a fantastic round the world, very tough, very intense.

Best memories? Willy Garcia:My best moment, just one special memory? There are many.... From crossing Cape Horn to the first days in the Southern Ocean, the first low, the first front, the climb North, crossing the strait of Gibraltar again, the truth is they are many different emotions. There are also bad days, when you have a low on top of you, the tension and worry. I mean, I could not pick just one moment. Today, the day of the arrival, the start, the aurora..."

Bruno:The aurora I think is a day we will remember all of our lives. I don't kno w if they are seen very often, but it was a spectacular night.

Their achievement: Bruno:From the team and boat points of view, it is a 10, it could not be done better. Despite having such a short time, we were so well prepared, and arriving... we haven't made any pit-stop, we haven't stopped! We have been able to manage with the technical teams' advice so, I think this is a 10, it is impossible to do better. With hindsight, the fact we could have been fourth, it would have been the cherry on top... I don't know. We tried everything... it is more merit of the others than a lack of effort from us. We have done everything, but One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton has done it a little bit better.

Willy: I know him very well. Obviously I know him better now, but I also know myself better now, and I think he knows himself much better. You go through many adverse or tense situations, that you get to know yourself much better. Living togeth er, we haven't had any major problems, only the little normal problems, but we had already experience of that so it was a strong point for us.

Damage to the boat: Bruno:We have fewer sails than when we started. We have been quite short of sails. It was something that we knew could happen because we went out with old sails, and besides we have broken many electronic things but we have been able to fix them, not 100%, but we have managed. We were limping along more than we let on. We didn't want our rivals to know, but now we can say it.

The match race with One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton: Bruno:"It made our days fly by. There were days that we said to each other: 'How can that be, it's night again?' It has been phenomenal. Then the result... we would have liked to win, because we are competitors, but it has been very good. After all, this is a race. We have really had one hell of a race. Maybe there are some other boats who have had less of a race than we have."

Things they are looking forward to: Willy:We are looking forward to seeing family, friends, to eating something fresh. I even had a dream that I was going to the market to buy veggies. It is what you miss here. Maybe tomorrow I will go to the square and have that pleasure of buying something fresh. So it's just a bit of that: being with your loved ones, friends, a shower, and eating something good.

Bruno:My answer is similar, we are brothers after all. Maybe, going with friends to climb a mountain, that is one of the things we like doing the most and which we have spent the round the world trip remembering, dreaming of and looking forward to, so we will do it for sure.

We Are Water crossed the finish line off Barcelona's famous beachfront and the W Hotel at 15.06 UTC on Thursday, April 9thAfter a round-the-world duel with One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton, We Are Water finishes fifth just 17 hours, 54 minutes and 19 seconds hours behind their friends and rivalsThe brothers completed their first full circumnavigation in 99 days, 3 hours, 6 minutes and 28 seconds

Theirs was one of the most epic battles of the Barcelona World Race, exchanging places with One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton throughout almost the entire 23,000-mile course. As We Are Water entered the Mediterranean three days ago they were fewer than 60 miles behind their long-term rivals, closing to just 44 miles as strong headwinds tested both teams. But while ultimately fourth place may have remained just beyond their grasp, fifth place, non-stop, remains a phenomenal achievement for this duo, who bring a Corinthian spirit to the race, both working in demanding professions as well as building exemplary sailing careers.

Brothers Bruno and Willy Garcia may have a lifetime of shared experiences between them, but they began their preparation for the Barcelona World Race just three months before the start. Taking a well-proven boat (the winner of the 2007-08 edition of the race), with a succinct campaign and training plan managed by the FNOB, they hav e exceeded their objectives through teamwork, focussing on the essentials and sailing conservatively when required.

The duo sailed an actual distance of 28 292.73 miles in 99 days, 3 hours, 6 minutes and 28 seconds, at an average speed over the ground of 11.89 knots. They arrived 14 days, 21 hours, 16 minutes and 3 seconds after the winning boat, Cheminées Poujoulat, skippered by Bernard Stamm (SUI) and Jean Le Cam (FRA), who arrived on March 25th at 18.50 local time (17.50 UTC). Second went to Guillermo Altadill (ESP) and Jose Muñoz (CHI) on Neutrogena and third to fellow Spanish skippers Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín on GAES Centros Auditivos, while fourth placed Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa (ESP) arrived home the previous day on We Are Water.

In honour of the Garcia brothers' achievement, Jean Le Cam, Gerard Marín, Aleix Gelabert, Dida c Costa, Pepe Ribes and Andor Serra welcomed them into Barcelona onboard the winning IMOCA 60, Cheminées Poujoulat. Prolonging the agony – or protracting the enjoyment – of waiting to finish in their home city, the final hours of We Are Water's race were drawn out by light south-easterly winds that saw them make slow progress home over the course of today, zig-zagging just a mile or so off the coastal marshes of Llobregat. We Are Water crossed the line in sparkling Spanish sunshine at 15.06 UTC (17.06 local time), before arriving at a festive Portal de la Pau with crowds waving balloons and flags to welcome the Barcelona pair back to landfall.

We Are Water's race reviewed:

From Barcelona, We Are Water took the most easterly course of the fleet, passing close to Ibiza, alongside Spirit of Hungary. The decision brought them lighter winds than the leaders, and they passed Gibraltar on January 3rd in sevent h place about 100 miles back from One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton.

At the Canaries We Are Water opted to leave the archipelago to the west, and the strategy paid off – as they headed south into One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton's slipsteam they had reduced their advantage by 40 miles.

We Are Water set off in hot pursuit across the North Atlantic, and on January 12, around the latitude of 5°N, Bruno and Willy Garcia overtook to move up to sixth place. Heading towards South America, We Are Water began to gradually pull away in the south-easterly trades and as they turned eastwards on January 19 were about 200 miles ahead.

They were also gaining miles on Renault Captur in fourth, some 280 miles to the east but suffering lighter winds closer to the St. Helena high pressure system. Initially the Garcia brothers gained miles to the south faster than Jörg Riechers and Sebastien Audigane, but onc e the duos had cleared the influence of the St Helena High, Renault Captur picked up 25-30 knot north-westerlies, while We Are Water was left lingering in weaker south-easterlies, over 400 miles to the west.

Across the South Atlantic, Bruno and Willy were virtually equidistant between Renault Captur and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton, all three in different weather systems. On January 27th they first entered the 'Roaring Forties', and clocked up a 17.2-knot boat speed average in 24 hours. They passed their first 'Great Cape', the Cape of Good Hope, on January 30 at 11:08 UTC.

Heading into the Indian Ocean they continued to extend away from their Spanish compatriots, and by the time they were halfway between Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin were ahead of One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton by more 1025 miles.

But despite being in different weather systems, One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton staged a impressive co meback in the Deep South, and as they passed Cape Leuwin on February 15th had reduced the Garcia brothers' advantage to around 700 miles. Renault Captur, however, had also extended and were 1,000 miles to the east, looking uncatchable – until, that is, Jörg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane announced a couple of days later that they would be heading to New Zealand for repairs. By the time Renault Captur made landfall, We Are Water had already passed their latitude and moved into fourth place, whilst One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton had closed to just over 350 miles: the battle was on.

In the Pacific the two teams were sailing within the same weather systems, and the game became one of strategy as well as speed. We Are Water found themselves on the wrong side of a storm, and by dawn on February 23, as the brothers completed their eighth gybe in 48 hours, One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton was just over 200 miles behind and averaging nearly 17 knots. Five days later, a powerful depression brought winds of 25-30 knots and Willy and Bruno clocked their fastest time of the race, averaging 17.6 knots over 24 hours.

The race saw two pairings racing along the limits of the AEZ: We Are Water and One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton contesting for fourth, while GAES Centros Auditivos and Neutrogena duelled for second some 2000m to the east. As GAES Centros Auditivos passed Cape Horn, the two other Spanish teams were just 180 miles apart.

We Are Water passed the third 'Great Cape', the Horn, on March 7th at 22:06 UTC. Their pursuers followed just 4 hours and 55 minutes later, just 50 miles behind. The chase intensified in the South Atlantic, both boats sailing in parallel, frequently just 30 or 40 miles apart. On March 15th, 74 days after setting off from Barcelona, the pair crossed paths and took photos of one another. That night On e Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton finally overhauled Bruno and Willy to emerge in fourth place. But the fight was far from over: We Are Water swiftly recovered to overtake again, around 1,000 miles off the coast of Brazil.

Crossing the Doldrums brought frustrations for both teams, averaging just 2 knots average. We Are Water opted for a more westerly route across, which initially looked favourable, but One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton were the first to reach the northerly trades, as Aleix and Didac moved 120 miles ahead.

We Are Water remained in touch across the North Atlantic, until the Gulf of Cadiz brought light winds and a last opportunity to creep to within 55 miles of fourth by Gibraltar. Heading into the Meditereanean the Garcia brothers were faced with a 35-40 knot easterly on the nose. The final punishing conditions, combined with rough seas, drove Bruno and Willy to seek shelter in the lee of a shore to hoist their storm j ib in the Gulf of Almería. But whilst the manoeuvre protected the boat, it confirmed that fourth place was finally beyond grasp. The duo finished in fifth place, one day after One Planet One Ocean and Pharmaton, on April 9th.

The duo

Bruno Garcia is big brother: five years senior to Willy at 47, and the more experienced of the two in ocean racing. This is Bruno's second attempt at the Barcelona World Race – in 2010-11 he set off with this year's winner Jean Le Cam on Président, before retiring when dismasted off the Cape Verde islands. A highly respected cardiologist, Bruno has twice finished fifth in the gruelling Mini Transat singlehanded race, and competed in three Solitaire du Figaro races.

Like his brother, Willy Garcia is married, was born in Barcelona and lives there to this day. A skilled jeweller, Willy has also competed in the Mini Class, including a ninth in the 2003 Transat, and two Sol itaire du Figaros. He raced together with Bruno in the Figaro class in the Transat AG2R 20 years ago, but this was his first round the world race.

The boat

A 2007 launch by Farr Yacht Design, We Are Water has an impressive pedigree in the Barcelona World Race, having won the inaugural 2007-08 event as Paprec-Virbac 2 with Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall. Three years later it was back, sailed to fourth place as Estrella Damm by Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes in 2010-11, and four years further on it has completed yet another round-the-world voyage, this time non-stop.

The boat carried the name of We Are Water, a foundation established to promote awareness of the need for sustainable management of the world's water resources, in association with Roca. It is the second IMOCA 60 to carry the foundation's message, following Jaume Mumbrú and Cal i Sanmartís entry in the 2010-2011 edition of the race.

Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa crossed the finish line off Barcelona's W-Hotel at 21.12 UTC on Wednesday, April 8thThe Barcelona based duo returned to their home port in fourth placeBoth sailors complete their first circumnavigation, non-stop, having covered the 23,321-mile theoretical course in 98 days, 9 hours, 12 minutes and 9 secondsWe Are Water expected to follow them home tomorrow afternoon

In the end, the Mediterranean was kind to Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa on One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton. The Barcelona duo, who had fought so hard and so exceeded expectations to score a hugely deserved fourth place, were granted a respite from the battering headwinds which signalled their entry to the Alboran Sea, whilst avoiding the shoreside shutdown of breeze which plagued earlier finishers. One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton instead enjoyed light south-south-easterlies over the course of this afternoon, which carried them downwind to the finish line in front of the W Hotel at 5-6 knots.

The duo sailed an actual distance of 27,791 miles in 98 days, 9 hours, 12 minutes and 9 seconds, at an average speed over the ground of 11.8 knots. They arrived 14 days, 3 hours, 21 minutes and 44 seconds after the winning boat, Cheminées Poujoulat, skippered by Bernard Stamm (SUI) and Jean Le Cam (FRA), who arrived on March 25 th at 18.50 local time (17.50 UTC). Second went to Guillermo Altadill (ESP) and Jose Muñoz (CHI) on Neutrogena and third to fellow Spanish skippers Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín on GAES Centros Auditivos.

The Catalan pairing onboard One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton were the undisputed 'rookies' of the race – this was their first attempt at a round the world voyage, neither had ever sailed in the Southern Oceans, and yet they not only finished fourth, but were the third team to complete the course non-stop.

A thrilled Didac Costa commented immediately after finishing: "We are very happy and we have achieved the goals we had set: finishing the round the world race. Besides, we did it quite fast so we are very satisfied. We have enjoyed a lot during the whole race, it's been fantastic."

Co-skipper Aleix Gelabert also paid tribute to their near rivals We A re Water, saying: "In the end we have put some hours between us and them [We Are Water] but if you look the global course of a round the world race it is very few and well, it has been lots of fun having been with them neck-and-neck, and waiting until the last minute to see who arrived first; it has been very tight."

One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton's race reviewed:

Aleix and Didac reached Gibraltar on January 3rd in sixth position, around 60 miles ahead of We Are Water – completing the Mediterranean leg of the course in less time than the 2011 race winners Virbac-Paprec 3 during the previous edition.

In the Atlantic, the distance between the pairs had increased to about 100 miles by the time Gelabert and Costa turned southwards, with fifth-placed Renault Captur just over 50 miles in front. By the time they passed Madiera, they had closed to within 30 miles of Riechers and Audigane .

One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton was able to take a direct route south through the Canary Islands, passing between Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria, but the newer Renault Captur accelerated away and, as they exited the archipelago, was over 100 miles ahead. In the meantime, We Are Water opted to leave the Canaries to the west, and converged once more with One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton as they approached the Cape Verdes, One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton holding a 60-mile advantage.

We Are Water pursued them fiercely across the North Atlantic, and on January 12, around the latitude of 5° N, Bruno and Willy Garcia overtook into sixth place. Off the coast of South America, We Are Water began to gradually pull away in the south-easterly trades, and as they turned eastwards were about 200 miles ahead.

Aleix and Didac celebrated their baptism in the 'Roaring Forties' on January 28, and rapidly dived down to nearly 45°S and the margins of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone, more southerly than either We Are Water ahead or Spirit of Hungary in seventh behind. They passed their first 'Great Cape', the Cape of Good Hope, on February 1, with We Are Water about 530 miles to the north-east.

The Garcia brothers initially extended away across the Indian Ocean – to around 1,000 miles as One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton passed the Kerguelen Islands. But despite being in different weather systems, One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton staged a comeback in the Deep South, and as they passed Cape Leuwin on February 15th they had reduced that deficit to around 700 miles. The same day Renault Captur announced that they had sustained damage to a rudder blade, and three days later Jörg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane confirmed that that they would be heading to Wellington for repairs. With perfect timing to max imise the opportunity Aleix and Didac recorded their highest speeds in 24 hours of 17.8 knots between 18 and 19 February.

By the time Renault Captur made landfall in Wellington, We Are Water was already east of New Zealand and One Planet, and One Ocean & Pharmaton just 300 miles behind. As they headed into the Pacific Ocean, both boats were sailing in the same weather system, but We Are Water were suffering less favourable angles. By dawn on February 23, as We Are Water completed their eighth gybe in 48 hours, One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton was just over 200 miles behind and averaging nearly 17 knots.

The hunt continued relentlessly across the vast Pacific, with Renault Captur also bearing down on the Spanish teams from the north-west. As they struck north away from the AEZ around 1,000 miles west of Cape Horn, One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton had shrunk the gap to just over 100 miles, with Renault Captur over 500 miles to the north-west.

Gelabert and Costa achieved a lifetime ambition when they passed Cape Horn on March 8, just 50 miles west of We Are Water – a comeback across the Great South of nearly 1,000 miles.

The duel intensified in the South Atlantic, both boats sailing in parallel, frequently just 30 or 40 miles apart. On March 15th, the pair crossed tracks and took photos of one another, and by dawn the following morning One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton had emerged in fourth place. We Are Water swiftly recovered to overtake again, around 1,000 miles off the coast of Brazil, and the match race persisted until the Doldrums with further position exchanges.

Approaching the Equator, We Are Water opted for a more westerly course, which initially looked favourable, but One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton had a faster crossing in fourth. Both endured long tense hours of sailing at just 2-3 knots, u ntil One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton was first to pick up the trade winds from the north with a 100-odd miles of theoretical advantage. They held their advantage on the long North Atlantic leg, until light winds in the Gulf of Cadiz brought We Are Water to within 55 miles astern.

One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton returned to the Mediterranean on April 5 with a 60-mile advantage and a forecast of 38-knot headwinds, followed by a potential breeze shut down in the final miles off Gibraltar. The Alboran Sea crossing brought one final challenge, beating into over 35 knots with rough sea conditions, which saw the margin between the two boats shrink to just over 40 miles. But as We Are Water sought shelter in the Gulf of Almería to hoist the storm jib and untangle a halyard issue, One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton were able to recover 30 miles of advantage and secure the coveted fourth finishing position.

After a full month of mi d-ocean match racing, their long-term rivals Bruno and Willy Garcia on We Are Water, are forecast to arrive in Barcelona in fifth place tomorrow, April 9th, between 1200-1500hrs (UTC).

The duo

For both Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa Barcelona is home – Didac was born here - and to complete their first ever circumnavigation in a Spanish-flagged yacht, sailing in and out of their home port, is a particularly special moment. To do so finishing fourth in an IMOCA 60 round the world race, having completed the course non-stop, is an inspirational achievement for the duo.

Both Gelabert and Costa began their solo racing careers in the Mini 6.50 class, competing in the 2011 Mini Transat to finish 18th in the Proto and 21st in the Series divisions respectively. Both moved up to the IMOCA 60s through the FNOB, Gelabert racing onboard GAES Centros Auditivos and sailing doublehanded with Anna Corbel la, as well as working as perparateur for Anna and Gerard Marín on their doublehanded Figaro campaign.

Gelabert's first taste of the Barcelona World Race was as shore crew for Corbella and Dee Caffari in the previous edition of the race, in 2010. Costa, meanwhile, is relatively new to the IMOCA class, although the pair sailed some 8,000 miles together in training to prepare for the race. To follow Corbella and Marín home in fourth place will be a dream come true for both of them, having commented before the race that their ambition was to complete the course. Aleix, aged 37, is an architect by profesion and Didac, 34, a firefighter.

The boat

Gelabert and Costa's fourth place is all the more impressive given that they were racing the oldest IMOCA 60 in the race, the 2000 design which was famously sailed by Ellen MacArthur to second in the 2000-01 Vendee Globe. Having gone through many thorough refits and three previous round the world trips – including two Barcelona World Races – the Owen-Clarke design is a one of the most enduring of the IMOCA fleet and much loved by those lucky enough to sail on her.

Veteran racer Nick Moloney, who also competed in the Vendée Globe on board the yacht as Skandia emailed Aleix and Didac during the race to congratulate them on their position and share his memories of the yacht: "I believe with boats is that they have a soul...a heart even. This boat (your boat) is a survivor...a battler! Many sailors hold many great memories of their days and successes afloat on this boat...I am really delighted to see her still stretching her legs in open ocean."

Speaking shortly after they crossed the line, Aleix Gelabert commented on the legendary history of the yacht, saying: "I don't feel that we made this legend bigger, I feel that we have sailed as best as possible, I think we have had a good performance on this boat and I think this boat is really a good boat and we are very very proud of it."

The 'One Planet, One Ocean' campaign is part of an agreement between the FNOB and the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC). As part of their voyage, Aleix and Didac were involved in collecting data on salinity levels and levels of microplastics in the water, as well as the launch of the Argo floats and the Citclops project to analyse the quality of surface seawater.

Key dates for One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton

Gibraltar: January 3 at 11.30 UTC

Equator: January 14 at 12.02 UTC

Cape of Good Hope: February 1 at 10.22 UTC

Cape Leeuwin: February 15 at 20.29 UTC

Cape Horn: March 8 at 03.01 UTC

Equator: March 22 at 14.20 UTC

Gibraltar: April 5 at 18.25 UTC

Quotes from the skippers on arrival:

Aleix Gelabert: "We are very happy to have arrived, satisfied at having achieved it and ve ry excited."

Didac Costa: "We are very happy and we have achieved the goals we had set: finishing the round the world race. Besides, we did it quite fast so we are very satisfied. We have enjoyed a lot during the whole race, it's been fantastic."

Aleix Gelabert: "What we have said is what's really happened. We have had no big problems. Little problems – things that break and we have repaired, but nothing major."

Didac Costa: "It has gone very well. I am very happy about how it went. There are always discussions, that's obvious, but I think it has been very satisfactory and it went well. We are happy."

Aleix Gelabert: "In the end we have put some hours between us and them [We Are Water] but if you look the global course of a round the world race it is very few and well, it has been lots of fun having been with them neck-and-neck, and waiting until the last minut e to see who arrived first; it has been very tight."

Didac Costa: "We are surprised with the boat. We did not think we would be able to go this fast and arrive in this position, being able to keep up the pace we have kept. But that's what we found and therefore we are happy. It is a surprise having been able to go quickly with this boat and to be in this position where we are."

Aleix Gelabert: "We feel the same after our first round the world race, I don't know what we expected. We expected a lot of spectacle and excitement at the arrival and yes, we are very happy. I don't feel different, people says you change after a round the world but I feel the same, I'll tell you in a few days."

Less than 300 miles to the Mediterranean for One Planet, One Ocean & PharmatonWe Are Water gaining, with just 65 miles separating them from leadersLess than 3,000 miles to go for Spirit of Hungary

Off the North African coast, Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa must wish they quite literally had eyes in the back of their heads. Sailing just 90 miles off the busy port of Casablanca they have challenging coastal breezes to contend with, with the north-easterlies that have carried them towards Africa fading and shifting to the north, and their boat speed correspondingly dipping to just over 5 knots at the 1400hrs update.

Behind them, their long-time pursuers We Are Water have closed to 66 miles, shaving nearly 30 per cent off their advantage in just 24 hours. The Garcia brothers, still in the more established north-easterlies, were this afternoon making over 11 knots.

And ahead, Gelabert and Costa face a challenging crossing into the Straits of Gibraltar, with strong easterly Levante winds. The combination of headwinds and the tight navigational restrictions required to race through the Straits alongside the hundreds of commercial ships which use the passage between Africa and Europe every day ­will be quite challenging enough – let alone with another team in close pursuit for the coveted fourth place position.

The fourth and fifth placed boats are expected to arrive in Barcelona on the evening of Wednesday, April 8. The deciding moment is likely to be found in the Mediterranean – current forecasts suggest One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton will be crossing the Straits early tomorrow afternoon, and We Are Water early on Monday.

Wildest dreams

Speaking in video conference earlier today, Aleix Gelabert confessed he would never have expected to be competing for defending a position at this point in regatta: "We had never raised the possibility of having a boat less than one hundred miles approaching the Strait of Gibraltar. We thought of many possibilities, but that is not one that occurred to us. The truth is that it is amazing to have a boat so close after so man y miles."

He explained the conditions they expect to face over the next 24 hours: "Our last miles to Gibraltar are going to be a little bit tricky, it is still a little bit difficult with the weather system that we have. We have light winds and very variable winds, so these last 24 hours will be very difficult. And then we will pass the Straits of Gibraltar probably with easterly winds, and probably with stronger winds, so it will be difficult, and it will be also difficult sailing into the Mediterranean in the beginning with the stronger winds of the east. But we are really close to Barcelona, to home and we are very excited to arrive.

"In the Mediterranean we will probably have to do a lot of manoeuvres, change sails, or gybe – a lot of things because we will have strong weather. But another thing is we are trying to rest as much as possible, although always we have to be careful about We Are Water and try to do our best to keep up the speed of th e boat, but we will try to rest, to sleep as much as possible and then be in a better physical position to sail in the Mediterranean."

Sixes and sevens

Meanwhile, Jörg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane in sixth place on Renault Captur, who have spent several hours in some unstable winds due to an anticyclone, will now see their situation improve with the passage of a cold front that has re-established the trade winds to their normal pattern. They are expected to tack for a direct course to Gibraltar sooner than their predecessors. They are currently in 15-knot north-easterlies which are expected to veer to the left, with boat speed picking back up to double figures.

Spirit of Hungary has finally escaped from their prolonged and complex Doldrums crossing, and are beginning to pick up the North Atlantic trade winds, which will increase in strength as make progress towards the north. Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman ha ve now broken the psychological 3,000-mile mark until the finish in Barcelona.

As food for thought, this time four years ago was when the winners of the 2010-111 Barcelona World Race, Virbac-Paprec 3 and the all-French duo of Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïc Peyron crossed the finish line to finish first after 93 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes and 36 seconds of racing. This year's title holders, Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam on Cheminées Poujoulat have of course lowered that time by over nine days.

"Our last miles to Gibraltar are going to be a little bit tricky, it is still a little bit difficult with the weather system that we have. We have light winds and very variable winds, so these last 24 hours will be very difficult. And then we will pass the Straits of Gibraltar probably with easterly winds, and probably with stronger winds, so it will be difficult, and it will be also difficult sailing into the Mediterranean in the beginning with the stronger winds of the east. But we are really close to Barcelona, to home and we are very excited to arrive.

"Having had We Are Water for so long so close to us is very difficult mentally because you need to push harder all the time, and also I think it's good because if we didn't have this boat we would probably have relaxed a little bit more, and we are pushing all the time and trying to arrive as fast as possib le always. So I think having this boat here is a good thing for us because now we are sailing better and faster.

"In the Mediterranean we will probably have to do a lot of manoeuvres, change sails, or gybe – a lot of things because we will have strong weather. But another thing is we are trying to rest as much as possible, although always we have to be careful about We Are Water and try to do our best to keep up the speed of the boat, but we will try to rest, to sleep as much as possible and then be in a better physical position to sail in the Mediterranean.

"For us whatever the result is, to arrive in Barcelona is a victory. Of course we will prefer to arrive fourth, because now we think we can do it. If Anna, Gerard and Guillermo think that we are sailing good and we are doing a great race, for us that is an honour."

The irony is not lost. The closest, most engaging and longest running battle of this edition of the Barcelona World Race is between four of Catalonia's favourite, and nicest sailors. The good guys are fighting for fourth. In every sense it is almost 'who cares who wins?'

The race for fourth place is not only one that neither of the crews, Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa on the ex-Kingfisher and the Garcia Brothers, doctor Bruno and jeweler Will on the good ship We Are Water, simply don't want to lose, but every observer who has invested any energy following these two pairs does not either of them to come fifth. Can they please, please both just be fourth equal? Can they just agree to hold hands and cross the line together!

As the two Catalan IMOCA 60s sail east towards the Moroccan coast, just to the NE of Madeira, Gelabert and Costa are running into the light breeze which stands between them and Gibraltar, still 350 miles ahead. After leading since the South Atlantic, earning a margin of 120 miles by selecting the inside line, to the east of the curve, in the NE'ly trades when their rivals erred West - a mistake subsequently admitted by the Brothers. Now One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton is slowed to four knots. We Are Water are making nine and have caught ten miles since the early morning. Normal logic says the pursuers have to get into the same, light, sticky breeze soon and will struggle to pass. But so too theirs is the slightly newer, slightly more powerful boat - a 2007 generation Farr compared with the 2000 Owen Clarke. But then so far Gelabert and Costa have defied logic, sailed extremely smartly and outfoxed their rivals. Both of the duos have represented themselves and thei r causes with conviction and with enthusiastic, caring communication. We Are Water is the Roca sanitary ware's foundation which promotes and delivers clean water projects in areas of need.One Planet, One Ocean is the motto of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, and highlights the close collaboration with the FNOB and the race's commitment to sustainability and ecology. It is one of the spearheads of the scientific perspective of the Barcelona World Race, and strengthens the race's contribution to oceanography and the environment. As well as pushing their famous IMOCA 60 to 10 per cent, they have undertaken a valuable scientific project all the way around the globe.

Easter Sunday should see the battle enter the Med, if they can up their pace a little. But it looks less likely given that there are easterly winds blowing in the Straits. For sure, a tactical, engaging race is on the cards to the line.

Life is definitely looking rosier for the German-French duo Jorg Riechers and Seb Audigane, but only just. The sweet toothed German will be missing his Easter chocolate and, for sure, when he left Barcelona three months and three days ago would be expecting to have been finished before now. Save your spare chocolates for Riechers who is due to finish April 15th or 16th. Renault Captur has a much more easterly slant to their course now, pointing towards the north of France now rather than Newfoundland which was their course a few days ago.

And Nandor Fa continues to impress, as only he does. Three months at sea, peas and bread for lunch again 'it is getting boring' and it is feeling 'too long' but he says 'you just have to keep the fire alive.' And he is so, so enjoying his race and the sheer satisfaction of beating the odds. Responding to the trubute paid to him yesterday by the youthful 52 year old, second placed Guillermo Altadill and asked if he thought Altadill - with seven circumnavigations to his name - might still be racing round the world in nine years, Fa, 61, said:" You never know. I did not think 15 years ago I would still be here racing around the world again. And I am so happy about that, I am really, really happy to be doing this. My physicality is back and I feel really, really good. I can do right now what I want to do just when I want to do it. I am in better condition than I thought I would be."

" We are over the equator here, we have a nice morning here and everything is good. It feels different to be in home hemisphere of the planet, not just the Doldrums but afterwards has been quite difficult too. Yesterday we had a NW'ly which was a local wind and we made some pretty nice progress, right now we are into the wind from the NNE which is also a local wind, not yet the synoptic wind, and when the real wind will come is the question because it is all quite a big mess at the moment."

Three months in, more to go?" This is a long race and it feels it right now because we have no rivals to race against here, we are alone. We are racing only by ourselves. It is not anything like sailing like in a race fleet. But the trip is good, we push the boat, we are racing and we both enjoy sailing, enjoy the sea, but really it is long, more than three months. But there is two weeks to go. We keep up the fire."

Back for the prizegiving (April 21)?We will be back for the prizegiving. We have 15 or 16 days. I look forwards to having a drink with all the other skippers.

On hearing Guillermo Altadill admired him for his race and achievments at 61....." It is nice to hear the other skippers admire us. This is an exceptional race we are doing.Guillermo is a really nice person, I like him very much and he did an excellent race, pushing hard in spite of their problems. I admire their performance, they pushed hard. My congratulations."

It seems my original forecast was correct in that we are now one degree north of the equator and still trying to wriggle free from the clutches of the doldrums. I no longer think of the winds as fickle but as fiendish, evaporating and twisting at just the moment required to drive any self respecting sailor go crazy. With our latest slow down I have actually been totally zen, but that's largely due to the fact that I resorted to music and had a private dance party to keep the spirits up while the sails lolled uselessly in the briliant moonlight.

Earlier in the day we slipped over the equator and back into the northern hemisphere for my seventh crossing to Nandor's eighth. It was an exciting milestone as we are now on the final leg of our journey but it was also an opportunity to look back at the 20,000 miles we've run off the clock since we were here in January. We've had more than our fair share of difficulties, all of which we have overcome in various ways and we have always made it from one day to the next until we made it all the way around the world and back to the belt in the middle. Not bad, considering the less sanguine pundits were betting that we wouldn't make it beyond Cape Town!

Having made it across the equator I was looking for entertainment in the light winds. I saw that a couple of cargo ships were close by so I called them up to ask them about how grizzled mariner's such as themselves would celebrate crossing the line. Despite being called directly with the name of their ship, most ignored me completely until I finally got a reply from a very russian sounding ship's captain from the Baltic Summer. He replied that they had two first time equator crossers on board and they would be dunked in the swimming pool by Neptune to atone for their supposed sins! Clearly these rituals happen differently on the big ships because the crews on racing yachts generally just throw food and old f lying fish at each other when they cross for the first time!

Now that we're back in the north, on the right tack and pointing in the right way, all we need is some decent wind to propel us back to Barcelona. Given that the forecasts are still far from accurate I'll go make myself a hot drink and see if I can find any wisdom in the tea leaves. Wish me luck and send us some Wind!

Spirit of Hungary crossed the Equator back into the Northern Hemisphere at 1553hrs UTC this afternoon. Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman have taken 92 days 03 hrs 53 mins since the start on December 31st to return into Spirit of Hungary's 'home' hemisphere. They cross 5 day and 10 hours behind Renault Captur.

Second placed Spanish skipper Guillermo Altadill praised Fa for his strength of character, his energy and his fortitude, paying tribute to his race today."He is a remarkable character. I cannot say that I would have his energy and drive to do so much the way he has when I am his age, designing, building and now racing the boat around the world." said Altadill during today's live show in Barcelona.

Fa and Colman have emerged from the Doldrums today and are making 9.9kts north this afternoon although their problem in the short to medium term is that the trade winds are quite N'ly and so they will be unable to make very profitable northing. And, as yet, the winds are still quite light. Their ETA back in Barcelona is currently something like 21st April. Patience has been their outstanding virtue since the start and it is being tested again!

One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton have their 120 miles m argin intact for the moment, as they sail north of the Canary Islands, but they are into much lighter airs and can expect their nemesis We Are Water to close miles in the coming hours.

Renault Captur have finally divested themselves of clinging weed which has gotten everywhere over the last three days, requiring back downs every few hours and severely affecting their ability to make energy with their hydros. Jorg Riecher and Sébastien Audigane are due at Gibraltar on 12th April.

Catalans Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín take third place and complete the podium for this 2014-15 edition of the Barcelona World Race.

Sailing GAES Centros Auditivos the female-male duo crossed the finish line off Barcelona's W-Hotel this Wednesday afternoon April 1st at 17h 09min 28sec UTC. Their elapsed time for theoretical course of 23,321 miles from Barcelona to Barcelona via the three great capes, Good Hope, Leeuwin and Cape Horn is 91days 05hours 9 mins 28 sec. They sailed at a theoretical average speed of 10.65ktsFor both of them, finishing today completes their second racing circumnavigation. Corbella now has two non stop races to her name after becoming the first Spanish woman to sail around the world non stop when she finished the 2010-11 Barcelona World Race in sixth position with Briton Dee Caffari on a previous GAES Centros Auditivos. Marín finished eighth in that same race.

They are the first all-Catalan duo to finish on the podium of the Barcelona World Race.

Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday 01/04/15Catalan co-skippers Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin set out on 31st December 2014 at the start of the third edition of the Barcelona World Race with a defined game plan. If it worked out for them a podium place was their objective. Today they delivered.Fundamental to their strategy was racing at a pace that would give them their best chance of finishing, to push hard when they could but to preserve themselves and their boat above all else. Finishing and sailing a smart, intelligent race to the best of their abilities was their goal.

As the first team to enter this third edition of the race, signing up in 2012, the duo have had the most clearly defined, focused training time of all the teams in this race. They have been equipped with a well proven, well optimised IMOCA 60 of the same generation and design as the first and second placed boats in this race, Cheminées Poujoulat and Neutrogena, a 2007 Farr design which also took third place in the la st edition of the race.

Their project, like them, is an all Catalan affair, and today they have realised the podium finish that they considered was within their reach - if they stuck to their strategy, day in day out, around the world.

Corbella and Marín have been fourth, then third almost all the way around the course. In the depths of the south Pacific ocean they got to within eight miles of Neutrogena,Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz who went on to take second. They finish 1d 17h 22m 28s behind second placed Neutrogena.

Corbella and Marin's third place is 6 days 23hours 19 min 03 sec after race winners, Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam who finished last Wednesday 25th March at 17:50:25hrs UTC. The Catalan duo finished the course non stop.

The actual distance Marin and Corbella sailed is 28 127,16nm at an average of 12.85kts

Shining Spanish stars who are still rising.The Catalan duo mark a big leap up in their abilities since the last edition of the race. Back then, the former Mini class racers were very much on the nursery slopes of the IMOCA 60 race round the world, both individually mentored by more experienced skippers. Dee Caffari raced with Corbella in the last edition on Caffari's former Aviva on which she finished sixth in the Vendée Globe, while Marín - the youngest co-skipper in 2010-11 - raced alongside Frenchman Ludovic Agalor on Forum Maritim Català and finished eighth.

Partnered up by the FNOB, their training together included the Transat AG2R in the Figaro class and last year's New York to Barcelona Race during which they really highlighted their progress and potential. Finishing third, they were pushing a lot of the more experienced teams hard, proving they were confident in taking their own decisions and followi ng their own strategy, just as they have several times in this Barcelona World Race. This time they proved they can not only match the pace of the faster duos, but can keep their boat together and competitive.

Corbella, a qualified vet and Marín, a past Europe dinghy class world champion who left behind a three month old daughter to do the race, lost some small miles in the North Atlantic when they had to drop their mainsail to repair it and replace three broken battens and did not manage to stay with their two nearest rivals on the entrance to the Indian Ocean and became snared for two or three days in a zone of light airs when the Roaring Forties only whispered for them.

The race's only mixed sex duo were unlucky to be trapped in another cell of calm airs in the Southern Ocean and ended up bouncing slowly along the Antarctic Exclusion Zone, but they proved themselves to have enormous stamina and a quietly stated but voracious appetite for the race. They worked consistently and with discipline to keep their boat at close to 100 per cent, sometimes rewarding themselves with treats for getting their jobs list back to zero! On January 8th they lead the race albeit briefly, and again got up to second momentarily in the Pacific. Corbella sustained a knee ligament injury north of the Canaries when she was thrown across the boat, and Marin sailed many of the final miles in solo mode for much of the time.

The BoatTheir boat started life as Gitana Eighty of Loick Peyron, a leader during the 2008-9 Vendée Globe. It finished third around the world in the 2010-11 as Renault ZE in the hands of Spaniards Pachi Rivero and Toño Piris and sailed to fifth place in the last Vendée Globe as SynerCiel with new Barcelona World Race champion co-skipper Jean Le Cam.

After the technical stop of Neutrogena in New Zealand, Corbella and Marin saw the chance to catch up and tantalisingly came to be less than ten miles behind Altadill and Munoz. After rounding Cape Horn at just ten hours behind Altadill and Munoz, their Atlantic climb finally saw Neutrogena move progressively further ahead, but their highly commendable third place is a worthy reflection of their further potential, a team which has proven solid and, surely, stronger together than the sum of its parts.

The fourth-place d finisher is expected around April 9. The fight for this position remains open between the One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton and We Are Water which are racing towards the Strait of Gibraltar with some 127 miles of difference between them.

Corbella and Marín aiming for April 1 homecoming, but the Med may demand a second night at seaGuillermo Altadill praises his Barcelona World Race co-skipper "I don't think we could have finished the race without him"Spirit of Hungary prepares for the Doldrums

The tricksy Mediterranean could yet play a final April Fool on the Barcelona World Race fleet. Third placed Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín hope to arrive back in the port of Barcelona, from which they have run their GAES Centros Auditivos campaign, tomorrow. However, Anna Corbella cautiously warned that they had spent last night drifting and virtually becalmed – as Neutrogena ghosted over the finish line into second – and they may well have more than 24 hours of light winds sailing ahead of them to cover the remaining 210 miles from their position off the coast of Alicante to the Barceloneta finish line and complete the podium of the Barcelona World Race.

"We are planning to arrive on the first of April, but at the moment we are not very sure of that because last night we spent some hours floating with no wind, and we have a bit more of these conditions to pass this afternoon and tonight," she reported today.

"We ll see what happens but probably if we don't arrive on the 1st we'll arrive on the 2nd in the morning. We hope so. So we need one or two more nights at sea to arrive home, and at the moment we are sailing with only 2 or 3 knots of wind, and the wind is from the north and very, very light."

Anna Corbella will finish her second Barcelona World Race – having come sixth in 2011, with she and co-skipper Marín expected to arrive in the evening of Wednesday April 1, or early on Thursday April 2. Corbella confirmed: "We could arrive tomorrow evening, but the Meteo files are not so accurate and the calms are turning out much heavier that the forecasts say, so there's the possibility that we will arrive on Thursday in the morning."

Old fashioned ways

Having recovered from a long, late night which saw them arrive in Barcelona at 0147 local time, to take second place in the Barcelona World Race, Neutrogena'sGuillermo Al tadill today took time to reflect on his race and praise his co-skipper Jose Muñoz:

"He's a good sailor Jose, and he's very patient. And the proof is he was holding me for these three months! So he had to be really patient! And this patience makes him good at solving problems. So sometimes what would happen is more or less we would be pushing the boat and making problems or breaking things, and he was sorting these things and repairing things. He made an awesome job repairing the sails and so on, without him I don't think we could have finished the race."

Altadill also revealed the extent of the damage they sustained to their communications equipment and how the duo adapted by reverting to a more traditional style of sailing. "It was quite tough, we had a problem with the gybe and all the antennas, the satellite antennas, GPS, communications, everything is off. And we sailed three weeks with no weather information, we didn't know where the other boats were, and we only communicated with the team just with the safety Iridium. So it was a little bit tough, but then you get used to it and we sailed a little bit the old fashioned way.

"Instead of being more in front of the computer you have more time on deck, more time watching the clouds, the wind, and then you make your own idea of the weather.

"When we stopped in New Zealand we didn't go to check the position of the others because we knew they were very close. When you lose a lot of miles stopping and then you go back to the race, and you see the other ones very close, then you start pushing again and then you can break things. So we decided we don't have any information and just sailed the boat as best as we can."

Atlantic quartet

Back in the Atlantic, fourth and fifth-placed One Planet One Ocean and Pharmaton and We Are Water remain perfectly in step with one another, both averaging exactl y 10.7 knots of boat speed over the past 24 hours, midway between the latitude of the Canary Islands and Madeira. Just over 100 miles continues to separate them. In sixth, Renault Captur have several days of sailing in moderate but consistent north-easterly trade winds, averaging around 8 knots of boat speed.

Meanwhile the last boat in the Southern Hemisphere, Spirit of Hungary, is preparing for a lengthy Doldrums crossing, Conrad Colman blogging today around 300 miles off the coast of Brazil:

"The Doldrums are an infamous area for sailors, especially those in a hurry like us. This is typically the zone of scorching sun, pitiful wind, fried nerves and parched scuttlebutts.

"Unfortunately our luck with the weather is holding true, meaning that we are lining up for a challenging crossing of a wide band of light to no wind, from five degrees south of the equator to one degree north. In a classic case of the rich getting richer, or at least getting home sooner, the leaders made it through with barely a slow down when they were here a couple of weeks ago.

"So, with my shoulder getting stronger by the day, we're braced for a long battle with marauding squall clouds, fitful winds, a stupidly powerful sun and endless sail changes."

"We are planning to arrive on the first of April, but at the moment we are not very sure of that because last night we spent some hours floating with no wind, and we have a bit more of these conditions to pass this afternoon and tonight.

"We'll see what happens but probably if we don't arrive on the 1st we'll arrive on the 2nd in the morning. We hope so. So we need one or two more nights at sea to arrive home, and at the moment we are sailing with only 2 or 3 knots of wind, and the wind is from the north and very, very light.

"My feelings are more or less the same [as when she finished the last Barcelona World Race]. Because the main feeling is that we want to arrive, we want to go home and eat normally, and see friends and family, and have a shower and all these normal things that we've missed a lot for these three months.

"For me the strongest memory is the passage of Cape Horn, it's a really special moment. As the other time it was very special, the weather was perfect and the light, the helicopter coming to take the pictures – everything was perfect, it was a very good moment, and I have a special feeling for that moment."

Guillermo Altadill, Neutrogena

"I think it was the most difficult [race I've done], sailing doublehanded non-stop with this IMOCA, it's a tough job. It's different to the Volvo or the Whitbreads, or the other ones with full crew, you share all the work and the stress. Here you can only share it in half. And in terms of satisfaction it was one unfinished job for the last few years, and finishing here in Barcelona with a second place is a good moment, I'm very happy!

[Loss of comms] ""It was quite tough, we had a problem with the gybe and all the antennas, the satellite antennas, GPS, communications, everything is o ff. And we sailed three weeks with no weather information, we didn't know where the other boats were, and we only communicated with the team just with the safety Iridium. So it was a little bit tough, but then you get used to it and we sailed a little bit the old fashioned way.

"Instead of being more in front of the computer you have more time on deck, more time watching the clouds, the wind, and then you make your own idea of the weather. When you have a lot of information you have to process this information, it takes a lot of time and a lot of energy, you spend a lot of time at the computer. So we made half the trip one way, and half another. It was good, you know, you learn a lot of things when you don't have this information we are used to.

"When we stopped in New Zealand we didn't go to check the position of the others because we knew they were very close. When you lose a lot of miles stopping and then you go back to the race, and you see th e other ones very close, then you start pushing again and then you can break things. So we decided we don't have any information and just sailed the boat as best as we can."

[Co-skipper] "He's a good sailor Jose, and he's very patient. And the proof is he was holding me for these three months! So he had to be really patient! And this patience makes him good at solving problems. So sometimes what would happen is more or less we would be pushing the boat and making problems or breaking things, and he was sorting these things and repairing things. So he made an awesome job repairing the things, the sails and so on, without him I don't think we could have finished the race.

"We lost one A2, we broke the jib top, we lost the antennas, we broke some rudder system. But Jose was repairing everything and he made these things happen, so he did a really good job. I think we broke more things than normal because we pushed a little bit in the beginning, s o in the end we decided to slow down a little bit.

"You know what I told Alex before – when you do this race doublehanded you cannot imagine how tough it is singlehanded. So after this race, all the solo sailors have all my respect. I think they are unbelievable."

Conrad Colman,Spirit of Hungary

"The Doldrums are an infamous area for sailors, especially those in a hurry like us. This is typically the zone of scorching sun, pitiful wind, fried nerves and parched scuttlebutts.

"Unfortunately our luck with the weather is holding true, meaning that we are lining up for a challenging crossing of a wide band of light to no wind, from five degrees south of the equator to one degree north. In a classic case of the rich getting richer, or at least getting home sooner, the leaders made it through with barely a slow down when they were here a couple of weeks ago.

"In the south, a cold front at the unusually high level of Rio has obliterated the high, and in the north, a compact low off the coast of Guinea is wreaking havoc. The flow from both the north and the south is split by its confrontation with the other and each spurts its energy to the east by Africa and to the west by Brazil. In the middle there will be almost no wind at all. Our goal now is to stay just on the western edge of this mess of nothingness, far enough west to find some semblance of wind but far enough east so to help our angle northwards after we have escaped.

"So, with my shoulder getting stronger by the day, we're braced for a long battle with marauding squall clouds, fitful winds, a stupidly powerful sun and endless sail changes. Mental preparation is key for the coming days, as it's possible to either give up the drive to push ahead or scream oneself hoarse with frustration. What's needed is a delicate blend of 'Que sera, sera' and one of my favourite quotes, 'When you're running through hell , don't stop!'."

Homecoming hero Altadill is the first Spanish and first Catalan skipper to finish this edition of the Barcelona World Race, Chilean co-skipper José Muñoz the first ever sailor from South America to finish the course.Ocean racing legend Altadill completes his seventh round the world circumnavigtion, one of the most accomplished records in sailing, Muñoz finishes his second, his first on an IMOCA 60.Barcelona's Altadill finishes third in the IMOCA Ocean Masters World Championship.

Ghosting across the line in the inky blackness of a Mediterranean spring night, finally slicing through the finish line set on the very waters where some 40 odd years ago he cut his teeth as a young, aspiring sailor harbouring great dreams, at 01:47:00hrs local time Guillermo Altadill and his talented, ever reliable Chilean co-skipper Jose Muñoz secured second placed in this third edition of the Barcelona World Race, the round the world race for two crew which left the Catalan capital on December 31st 2014.

After pressing the eventual race winners hard until New Zealand, where Altadill and Muñoz had to take the tough decision to make a 24 hours pit-stop to repair their engine generator, they finish 5d 5h 56 min 36 secs behind Cheminées Poujoulat'sBernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam.

The winners crossed the line on Wednsday 25th March at 1750hrs UTC, completing the course in 84d 05h 50m 25s.

The Spanish-Chilean partnership, which was only competing in their second major IMOCA race as a duo, finished the theroretical 23,321 Nms course in 89 days 11hrs 47mins at an average of 10.86kts.Altadill and Muñoz were honoured on the finish pontoon, at the base of Barcelona's iconic Columbus statue, by recently crowned winners Bernard Stamm (SUI) and Jean Le Cam (FRA) and Hugo Boss skipper Alex Thomson (GBR) who lead the early stages of the race until their mast tumbled down.

By making their technical stop into Bluff, South Island New Zealand, the duo are reckoned to have lost 930 miles, or close to the 90 hours which was Altadill's prediction as they as they diverted om 11th February. Afterwards, until their return to the North Atlantic, they maintained a very similar margin behind Cheminées Poujoulat. But despite their losses Altadill still paid a rich tribute to the winners, saying 'they sailed an awesome race, did not mak e mistakes and probably would have won anyway even if we had not had to stop."

Their actual distance sailed is 27,788.34 miles at a computed average of 12.94 kts. By comparison Cheminées Poujoulat sailed 27,953.43 Nms at an average of 13,8 kts.

The duoBarcelona's Altadill, 52, who has one of the most storied, varied and successful careers in global ocean racing becomes the first Catalan ever to stand on the podium of the Barcelona World Race. As well as his ocean racing career, Altadill has served as a successful coach in Spanish Olympic sailing, coaching the gold medal winning Tornado crew in 1996. He sailed in the 2007 America's Cup with Team Germany.Completing his seventh circumnavigation, he already has two round the world race podiums to date in the Volvo and Whitbread races and won The Race, the maxi multihull race around the world, in 2000-1 on Club Med with skipper Grant Dalton.Chilean José Muñoz, 42, is one of South America's best known ocean racers, and in finishing second today has made a very successful step up from the Class 40 Portimao Global Ocean Race. With his close friend, mentor and co-skipper on Felippe Cubillos on Desafío Cabo de Hornos (Class 40), he took second place in the 2008-9 two handed race, with stops, around the world. Off Cape Horn on 28th February past, Muñoz paid a very warm tribute to the inspirational Cubillos who died in a plane crash in 2010.

After second place in the Transat Jacques Vabre, second in the New York-Barcelona Race and second today, Altadill finishes third overall on the podium of the IMOCA Ocean Masters World Championship, behind Jean Le Cam and Bernard Stamm.

For Altadill, this is one of the high points of his career, finishing runner up in the two-handed round the world race which was originally conceived to promote his home city. He was one of the pioneering skippers to take the start line in the inaugural edition in 2008-9 but rudder problems meant he and American double Olympic medal winning co-skipper Jonathan McKee were the first duo to have to retire from the race, before they had even reached the Indian Ocean. Success today completes a measure of unfinished business for Altadill. They raced the final 26 days of the course with almost no communication tools after losing their antennae as a result of a crash gybe.

The boatSecond place maintains the very successful record for the IMOCA 60 which was designed by Farr Yacht Design, and built in Cowes, England by Offshore Challenges Sailing Team originally as the Estrella Damm for Altadill and McKee. It lead the 2008-9 Vendée Globe in the hands of French skipper Sébastien Josse as BT before he had to retire into New Zealand. In 2010 Roland Jourdain sailed this boat to win the legendary Route du Rhum against many newer generation boats. Altadill's passion for the boat helped him to influence British skipper Alex Thomson into buying it for the 2011-12 Vendée Globe. As a precursor to this, he helped develop and optimise the boat which he and Thomson then sailed to second in the Transat Jacques Vabre two handed race to Costa Rica. And with the same boat, Thomson then broke his Vendée Globe hodoo to finish third in 2012-13.

Although the combination of Altadill's rich and varied experience, Munoz's vigor and reliabilit y matched to the well proven, highly optimised IMOCA 60 clearly marked them out as one of the pre-race favourites, Altadill always refused to acknowledge this, saying that 'it is down to the ocean to decide'. But since the very first hours of the race, Neutrogena have been among the vanguard of four, pressing hard early leaders Alex Thomson and Pepe Ribes on the newer, theoretically faster Hugo Boss before a dismasting . Altadill and Muñoz proved well able to not just match the pace of the leaders, but frequently exceed it. They lead the race four times, most recently on 17th January and after an initial tactical loss on the entrance into the Indian Ocean, they certainly matched Cheminées Poujoulat's speed. Had they not had to stop in to New Zealand, perhaps the final outcome of the race might have been different!

GAES Centros Auditivos are due to complete the podium, looking set to finish third in to Barcelona on April 1st.

Key dates and times for NeutrogenaGibraltar: January 2 at 19:33 UTC, after 2d 7h 33m racing, crossing in second position after the Hugo BossEquator: 12 January at 03:00 UTC, after 11d 15h racing, crossing in second position after Hugo BossCape of Good Hope: January 25 at 21:10 UTC, after 25d 09h 10m racing, crossing in second position after Cheminées PoujoulatCape Leeuwin: February 7 at 05:00 UTC, after 37d 17h crossing in second position after Cheminées PoujoulatCape Horn: 28 February at 02:12 UTC, after 58d 14h 12m crossing in second position after Cheminées PoujoulatEquator: 14 March at 22:18 UTC, after 73d 10h 18m crossing in second position after the Cheminées PoujoulatGibraltar: 27 March at 07:40 UTC, after 86d 5h 40m in second position, the tras Cheminées PoujoulatEquator to Barcelona: 16 days 1hr 29 mins

QuotesOn the finishGuillermo Altadill: " We are happy, happy to finish the race, and happy to finish in second place. That is more or less what we had as a goal, to among the three first places and so we have achieved that goal."" Of course the pit stop hurt us, we started very well and were pretty close to Cheminées Poujoulat and then we had to leave them on their own. We have made a very good race even though we had to sail 1000 miles more than the rest of the fleet. But thank god we had a very good skipper on the boat, so we could sail at 100% again."" The two first editions I could not finish and so this third edition I am happy to have been able to finish, and in second makes me happy."

Best and worst moments?Guillermo Altadill: " The start, Cape Horn and the moment we had to stop in New Zealand were the good and the bad moments."José Munoz: "The start and then during the race you are really not thinking about anything else but competing except the stop. That was never in the plan. But Cape Horn, passing close to home, was mythical, unfortunately we passed at night, but Cape Horn was special, exciting and rewarding."

Complementary Characters?Altadill: "Jose has an incredible patience. The most difficult part of the race was probably putting up with me and not the sailing. It has been perfect. We trained together before and knew each other. Each of us have our characters and on every boat, and there is something in sharing the goal together to finish the race. Most of the time you are just sailing and talking about the navigation and the sailing, but there are a few lighter moments, but we were very focused because there was always someone around - first Cheminées Poujoulat and then GAES Centros Auditivos. So we were very concentrated all the time. Living together was perfect. Of course in three months every one has good and bad moments, moments when one is not in a good mood but it passes. He is very patient, he is a very good sailor and we have complemented each other."Munoz: " It feels like I slept the whole race, because it is all a blur, I can't remember much about it. The truth is we divided the jobs very evenly. Guillermo kept the boat moving at 100% and he has his character and me mine, but in the end we focused on doing everything very professionally and very well. It went very well."

Press conferenceGuillermo Altadill: "I always said I wanted to finish this race with no stops, but to finish this race in second place is really good."Munoz: " It has been a wonderful race for a Chilean guy sailing in this kind of race, getting to know this kind of round the world race and sharing it with Guillermo who is an extraordinary sailor. It was a new experience every single day.

Guillermo Altadill: Since the sixth of March we have had no communications at all, no weather information at all. In one gybe the mainsail took off all the antennae of the GPS, the satellite, everything. The Iridium antenna was gone and so we had no weather information, no communications. We talked with our team once a day with the emergency iridium just to say we were OK. We did not know where the other boats were, what weather we would get. We were in touch with the race organisation and so they gave us a really short weather briefing, but we had no weather information, no routings, nothing. We were sailing like the old times. And in truth if I sail around the world again I would do it like this. We have been sailing better with no information than with information.

Invercargill, the hardest moment?

Guillermo Altadill: "The day we decided we could not sail the Pacific with no chance to charge the batteries, no watermaker, nothing, so we made that decision. We knew that it was not just what you lose on the course, you also lose the chance to be on the same weather system. Two hundred miles is really nothing but after that it was too much. But Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam were sailing really well. Probably they would have won even if we did not have to stop. But we knew it was almost impossible to regain the miles. We knew it was a hard decision, but in this kind of race you have to sail well, you have to make the right decisions, and you have to keep the material in one piece, and know how to fix it. That is part of the game. It is not just saying 'well that was bad luck' It is part of the game, part of the sport. There are no excuses for that kind of failure. Jean and Bernard sailed with no errors. They deserved to win. We made some errors as well. But there were some mistakes, including the one that required us to to stop, so we are happy, we finished second.

After three months what did you miss?José Munoz: There are a lot of things I cannot say! I want to see my family. I did not have any communications with them, we just connected for a couple of minutes every seven or eight days. I would like to have to a nice shower and then a good bed. And then I suppose I will wake up with Guillermo telling me we have to gybe! It will not be easy getting used to reality again. And he is such a nice skipper. I don't know if I would sail around the world with Guillermo again, but I would definitely sail with him again.The exclusion zone was really good. There was some ice close to us but we did not see any.

Son Willy at Cape Horn on MAPFRE in the Volvo Ocean Race, Guillermo at the finsih line of the Barcelona World Race:Guillermo Altadill: "I did not know that. I had no information about the boats in this race or that race. But when I heard he had been called up to sail in the Volvo I was very proud, and knowing he has crossed Cape Horn just 15 or 20 days after me, that is curious, and nice! (applause)." The velocity of these boats is incredible, sailing at 23-25 kts for two or three minutes at a time is very special."" It was a very special moment to finish this race here. I was born in this city, I learned to sail in this city on this harbour, and it is a great moment to finish a round the world race here. It was an awesome moment, one of the best of my sailing career, finishing this race."

Neutrogena on course for second overall Monday end of morningGAES Centros Auditivos in to the MediterraneanGuillermo Altadill and José Munoz should cross the Barcelona line Monday on their IMOCA 60 Neutrogena and secure second placed overall in the Barcelona World Race, the two handed race around the world.

Altadill, 52, has enjoyed many round the world race finishes over a varied and successful career spanning nearly 30 years. But finishing in to his own home city, through the waters where he grew up sailing - and indeed coached at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as part of the Spanish Olympic team - will surely rank as one of the sweetest memories of his life.

Altadill was one of the pioneers in the first edition, announced in July 2007 as a skipper of Estrella Damm, but he and co-skipper Jonathan McKee had to retire into Cape Town with technical problems. And he was part of a partnership that did not make it to the start line for the second edition. The Catalan-Chilean duo will harbour some regrets that they had to let Cheminées Poujoulat away when they had to pitstop Neutrogena in to Bluff, South Island New Zealand on 11th February, a diversion which maybe only cost them the statutory 24 off the race course, but their unavoidable loss amounted to close to 1000 miles.Until New Zealand the Neutrogena duo had proven themselves as the only boat which could pace the eventual winners, Cheminées Poujoulat. And even after they returned to pursue Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam, they held the delta, retaining the same high pace until the South Atlantic opened up so nicely for the race winners.Chilean Munoz will complete his second racing circumnavigation, only his second major IMOCA 60 race after partnering Altadill in last year's New York-Barcelona transatlantic.

Altadill sounded relaxed and contented when he spoke very briefly to Race Direction this afternoon, confirming that they had been slowed in light airs but they were expecting to work the afternoon sea breeze off Alicante. At midday UTC they were 80 miles offshore and had just had two very slow hours. He confirmed their projected ETA at between 1100hrs and 1400hrs UTC Monday. He said they are expecting a transition zone later in the afternoon or evening at the latitude of Ibiza. Their biggest sticking point may be a usual calm zone off Tarragona at the edge of the Ebro valley where the drainage NW'ly can fight the gradient breeze and leave a big, quiet area.

GAES Centros Auditivos were struggling in very light airs as Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin were closing in to the Straits of Gibraltar. The Catalan duo were making just two or three knots of boat speed but should break in to the Mediterranean later this afternoon.

One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton and We Are Water are still engaged in their upwind match race. One hundred and 20 miles to the west, Bruno and Willy Garcia have been sailing a course seven degrees higher than their rivals Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa who are still over 100 miles ahead in terms of DTF. But that progressive convergence of the courses, with the Garcias one knot quicker this afternoon, represent something of a comeback for the Barcelona brothers.

Renault Captur are in the NE'ly trade winds making a steady 9kts upwind in 12kts of breeze.Spirit of Hungary are finally making a good N'ly course in the SE'ly trade winds which are quite light for them still but they do seem to have better prospects for the moment, although the Doldrums do look a little voracious for them. Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman are 800 miles to the Equator now.

Neutrogena at Cabo de Gata, the final climb to an emotional Barcelona WelcomeRenault Captur back across the EquatorGAES Centros Auditivos approach Gibraltar

It's small Cape, a local Spanish landmark, but it could be argued that it's the most definitive one of the Barcelona World Race. Cape Horn may be the biggest challenge of the two handed round the world race, but if you are not passing Cabo de Gata on the SE corner of Spain you are not finishing.

Cabo de Gata is the last mainland toehold on the climb up the Mediterranean to the finish line, quite often heralding a weather transition zone.After passing Gibraltar (Tarifa 5 deg 37 W) last night at 1740hrs UTC Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz had a good passage making four gybes downwind in breezes up to 15kts. A slow-down before dawn this morning proved temporary as they worked the Andalusian coast and refused to stray east into the clutches of the Alboaran Sea. And so the Catalan-Chilean duo, who are set to take second place - will pass Cabo de Gata later this afternoon and start the last ascentfor home. Neutrogena are now forecast to cross the finish line in Barcelona at around 1730hrs UTC Monday evening. Barcelona will no doubt lay on an emotional welcome for one of its favourite, most sucessful and well known round the world racers, who will complete his seventh circumnavigation.

For Altadill second place would complete his unfinishe d business with this race as well as being one of the standout results of a career which has mostly spanned fullt crewed challenges of all types. He started the inaugural edition of the race, sailing this same boat which was originally built for him as Estrella Damm, but had to retire into South Africa. For the Chilean José Muñoz, this will be his second circumnavigation,following the Global Ocean Race with his friend the late Felipe Cubillos.

Meantim at over four hundred miles astern there must be an acceptance on board GAES Centros Auditivos that second is now well beyond their reach. Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin were 230 miles to the Gibraltar Straits this afternoon, making 13.2kts, and should return to their home Mediterranean Sunday afternoon, arriving Barcelona on the morning of Thursday 2nd April.

Relentless struggleOne Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton battle on, trying to protect their leverage to the east of We Are Water.Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa have done a good job so far, 20 miles forwards in terms of latitude, though the separation east west to the Garcia brothers is still over 130 miles. And over the morning to afternoon schedule report they have been making 11.9 knots, compared with 10.2 for the Garcia brothers. But over 24 hours their averages are almost identical: 10.7 and 10.8 knots.Back in their half of the worldOn Renault Captur Jörg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane are back in the northern hemisphere. The German and French pairing have crossed the Equator at 0553hrs UTC only having a small loss of speed through the Doldrums thanks to their very westerly passage. And now they are in to the NE'ly trade winds.

Only Spirit of Hungary remain in the South Atlantic. Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman continue to work hard in the middle of a very complicated weather scenario, as Colman explained."We have been caught for days now in a bubbling mess of troughs and ridges, a turbulent transition zone without clean wind extending eastwards from the coast for over a thousand miles. With our route thus barred, we have had no choice but to slowly fight our way through, like aquajogging through molasses.Even as the boat has slowed our pace on board has increased. The "calms" we have encountered are actually a slow moving dance between warring parcels of air, a dynamic equilibrium between opposing forces. As these systems butt heads, ground won or lost by either side sends the wind spinning in circles so we tack and gybe, furl and unfurl ad infinitum under starry skies or blistering hot days. I am sporting a wide brimmed hat and coats of sunscreen whereas Nandor has ripped up an old Tshirt and is now sporting a rather fetching Laurence of Arabia look. We have been busy on the maintenance side too, first with our key hole surgery on the winch pedestal, followed 36 hours later by a complete rebuild. The charger for the engine starting battery fell victim to humidity from our previous problem with the keel bolts but we rigged a up the power cable from the bilge pump in its place. We mainly get 100% clean energy from the boat's movement through the water via our hydrogenerators but with speeds slowing we need the engine to charge the batteries. This is essential, as we need to power the instruments but also the water maker! With sweat pouring off us we are incredibly dependent on this alchemy of diesel into fresh water.

Keep in mind that all these maneuvers have been done with one hand on my part. During my most recent watch I was still able to furl the solent jib, set the J1/ Genoa, gybe the boat and grind on the backstays... all with my right arm. When we do jobs together, I step in on the pedestal winch with Nandor but I feel terrible that by only contributing one side I am asking him to do half of my share too. Still, he sa ys that this solo training has been incredibly useful for his future sailing. The pain in my shoulder has reduced to a dull ache and while I have recovered most of my range of movement I fear that I have certainly damaged either the inner cup of the joint, the labrum, or stretched the tendons somewhat. My joint now feels like a small hand in a large glove. It works, but you can't help feeling that there's a little more room than you need."

Neutrogena, sailed by Barcelona's Guillermo Altadill and Chilean co-skipper José Munoz, should return into the Mediterranean this evening. The duo were expected to slow slightly as the winds diminish as they get closer to the pillars of Hercules but they should be passed Gibraltar during the evening. At 1400hrs UTC this afternoon they had less than 60 miles to go.

A slow Mediterrenean is on the cards as high pressure will slowly drift over the Iberian peninsula. Altadill and Munoz have had to go back to basics receiving only limited weather information since their communications have been compromised since March 5th and the crash gybe they subsequently reported.

And for all that the vastly experienced Altadill will have been using his knowledge of Atlantic to best effect to plot their route home, now the return to coastal effects racing along a stretch of water which is essentially the playground that he cut his offshore racing teeth in,

Altadill will be in his element, sniffing out the thermal breezes, avoiding the potholes of the biggest calms, and knitting it all together, knowing that a commendable, hard earned second place is all but theirs. and triumphant welcome will be in store for the local hero who had set so much store in his first edition of the race from which he had to retire into Cape Town with rudder problems on Estrella Damm. Neutrogena should finish into Barcelona Tuesday afternoon.

There will be a period now for Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin to close a few miles back to second placed Neutrogena as they remain in stronger NE'ly breezes meantime until they too fall into lighter winds. Indeed this afternoon GAES Centros Auditivos, upwind, are just over one knot quicker than Neutrogena who will gybe downwind through the Straits. But these final miles, essentially from the Canaries north, are familiar to Corbella and Marin and to the One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton duo, on occasional ocean training sorties out from the FNOB based in Barcelona during their build up period.Once more One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton are defying expectations and sailing quicker upwind than their rivals, 150 miles to their west, We Are Water. Current routeings have the two Catalan IMOCA 60's only hours apart at Gibraltar, too close to call right now. And for sure the Mediterranean may well decide the outcome of this fascinating duel.

Aleix Gelabert on One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton:"We keep a close eye on them, while they are still parallel to us, about 150 miles west. Now think, in the medium term, the best way to approach without losing Gibraltar seen what they do to try to keep the small advantage we have. "We are currently sailing with good trade winds.We keep an eye on We Are Water, which is still sailing parallel to us at 150 miles west. Now we look at the options for the mid term perspective to decide which is the best way to get close to Gibraltar keepin on top of what they might do and holding on to the small advantage we have.Tonight it seems like the weed has disappeared and that allows us to rest a little bit more and get focused on moving faster.I was saying earlier to Didac that the only shame of being in the middle of the Atlantic is having missed out on the celebration that, for sure, Jean and Bernard must have enjoyed on their arrival and listening the new fresh stories of those great skippers, who are able to make the most difficult things look easy. They held on to a very high race rhythm that has progressively left their opponents behind.And, correspondingly from the rival IMOCA 60 in their west, Bruno Garcia on We Are Water: "The last few days since the Doldrums, which were bad enough, have been a reminder that this is an endurance race. Willy's muscle pain seems to be relieved a bit, I still have a bit of a sore shoulder and a stiff neck, nothing serious but just a bit uncomfortable. We are just quite tired physically.We are learning progressively about sailing these IMOCA boats, such as a quick course in plumbing. The water ballast tanks seem to have formed a closer relationship than we would like. They are secretly sharing water with each other through the fill and drain pipes which link the tanks. So now you could fill both or empty both by mistake. Last night was a bit of a panic when the the bow tank cover popped off and we almsot flooded the batteries. Luckily Willy realised the situation, luckily, and reacted very quickly and we sorted it out together within an h our. But we were as wet as fish and sweating like you would not believe. Whoever said this bit is easy? "

Meanwhile, the Renault Captur is about 70 miles crossing from crossing the Equator and into the northern hemisphere.

While the Barcelona World Race winners Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam have been granted the best Spring weather the Catalan capital can muster for them to find their land legs after 84 racing days, the final 230 miles to Gibraltar for second placed Neutrogena look like being relatively straightforwards.

Speaking of the winning duo, the double Barcelona World Race winner Jean-Pierre Dick said today: "Things really gelled between them. They complement each other so well. It proves they have a wealth of experience. Taking their experience into account, you see why they were so successful. They really managed this race well. I'm pleased as it should allow them both to bounce back."

Le Cam: World ChampionThis victory allows Jean Le Cam to secure the tile of IMOCA Ocean Masters World Champion for the 2013-2014 season. After winning the Transat Jacques Vabre alongside Vincent Riou, he has now won this title ahead of co-skipper Stamm and probably Guillermo Altadill, if Neutrogena finishes in second place in the Barcelona World Race. He follows in the footsteps of François Gabart and Jean-Pierre Dick.Jean Le Cam was awarded the title of IMOCA world champion in 2006. There is no age limit for the top teams and experienced sailors often want to prove how good they are still.

But while the beautiful Spring weather which is taking hold, sunshine and settled, high pressure weather is pleasant for the back-to-earth victors, and for Easter holidaymakers in the city, it seems to promise a slow Mediterranean for Neutrogena'sGuillermo Altadill and José Munoz. The Catal an-Chilean duo should reach Gibraltar and return to the Mediterranean on Saturday 27th March around 2200hrs in the evening, but the current ETA Barcelona is the evening of Tuesday 31st March.

They have just one more tack to complete before they breach the entrance to the Mediterranean and today are racing in about 15-18kts of NE'ly trade winds off the Moroccan coast. Altadill and Munoz seem blessed with their NE'ly backing to the NW'ly as they get north.GAES Centros Auditivos are still sailing in a lighter breeze, and only managing to make slightly less speed than their second placed rivals. Co-skipper GerardMarín is very much in solo mode still. Following Anna Corbella's knee strain, Marin has continued to undertake most of the harder physical work on board as Corbella rests her injury:

" She is not doing very much physical stuff and does not have much mobility yet." Marín reported today,"For the moment I'm doing it alone. She could probably do things if we needed her to, but for the moment it is not worth it. We have two or three days of upwind and we are tacking so those are pretty easy maneuvers so for the moment I'm doing it by my self."GAES Centros Auditivos is now 320 miles behind Neutrogena.

Four hundred and 30 miles SW of the Cape Verde Islands, the upwind duel in the NE'ly trade winds continues to see the advantage of One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton increasing thanks to Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa's position in the east. Their leverage gained now - 150 miles of lateral separation - can become increasingly significant as they approach Gibraltar.Renault Captur,Jorg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane, are now moving clear of the NE corner of Brazil and have just 185 miles left in the Southern Hemisphere, due to cross the Equator tomorrow. And Spirit of Hungary, now just north of the latitude of Rio, have had a slow day in variable winds making just 3.2kts this afternoon.

It was just at sunset, in the end, when Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam broke the finish line off Barcelona's iconic W-Hotel to complete their victory in the Barcelona World Race. They punched the air with delight as the gun sounded after 84 days and 5 hours of racing, a joyous release of elation and relief. Within seconds they had their technical team and family aboard on board Cheminées Poujoulat to share the moments.

Both Stamm and Le Cam have endured more than enough of their own histories of disappointments racing round the world to ensure that those seconds after the gun meant so much more.Stamm was disqualified from the last Vendée Globe for inadvertently receiving outside assistance and in four campaigns has yet to be placed in the pinnacle solo round the world race.

Le Cam once had to abandon the Vendée Globe, in 2008, when his boat capsized off Cape Horn. He also had to retire from the last edition of this race in 2011 when the mast of President, the IMOCA 60 he raced with Bruno Garcia, crashed down just north of the Cape Verde islands. So their success together was as much cathartic as it was a time for celebration.

So, when asked when he was really sure they would win this Barcelona World Race, despite a lead of nearly 1000 miles since before Cape Horn, Stamm admitted:" When we crossed the finish line, we knew then that we could win."And, following his short, curtailed experience of the 2010-2011 race, Jean Le Cam was asked if ever he had specific worries about the mast of Cheminées Poujoulat coming down during the race. He responded immediately:"No. Not at one point.......... Only all the time. All the time. It is always with you. It is the most visible and important thing you can see. And when it has happened to you before, it is always in your mind."On the dock, below the statue of Christopher Columbus on Barcelona's Portal de la Pau, they were quizzed for their first reactions:What does it represent a victory in the Barcelona World Race?Bernard Stamm: We are always happy and now we are happy because there is a victory after a great adventure ...Jean Le Cam: When we win, we can only be happy. We left Barcelona, ??it was a circumnavigation and we returned to Barcelona, ??it's as simple as that.

What are your first feelings?Bernard Stamm: First and foremost there is a great satisfaction. It all worked well, we managed to overcome all our technical problems and we can say that we have had enough of them.Jean Le Cam: Certainly. I think that alone, we would not have finished the race. Fortunately Bernard knows well how to climb the mast.

Bernard Stamm: It's a team effort. The guy who's on the deck has to work as well, he has to grind to hoist the one who will work up there. We had lots of problems but together we were able to find solutions. That is what is different from being two soloists on the same boat.

Bernard Stamm: For three months you share your race with someone else. When we had a technical problem, we were both thinking, we exchanged ideas. And all the time you are keeping the boat moving.Jean Le Cam: And we had plenty of worries. We went half way around the world with a wind vane cobbled together on a little mast on the back of the boat, which we changed depending on what tack we were on. We finally got one to the top of the mast as you will see there is an external cable running up to it.Bernard Stamm: We had also had lock worries on the mainsail. I can say that when we successfully repaired them, it was a moment of true happiness.

In the press conference:What were the shared moments of happiness?Jean Le Cam: Inevitably, when we get to find solutions together, then you share that happiness together. We can't forget that we had a really windy south, it was a year to remember.Bernard Stamm: And then there is also the pleasure of making a good move or two.North of Canaries before reaching a Gibraltar that will be remembered. At first you are so focused and busy, but then like then you see the results and enjoy it.Jean Le Cam: That's it. Two up you can really share, it is a really rich experience.

Their relationship? Arguments?Bernard Stamm: " If we had any problems with each other it was because we were tired or stressed or both, it was a reflex reaction and these just come and then they are gone as quickly as they came. We generally got on very well. We just focussed on making the boat go well, and as that is a difficult boat to handle, we just basically did not ever have any time to do anything but work on the boat, there was no time for arguments."

Jean Le Cam; "We are still together. It is not La Vie en Rose. It is like being a couple. We each have carry our own cross. It is not easy for us. You just have to concede things to each other and get on with it, get through each day.

Bernard Stamm: " I have wanted to participate in the Barcelona World Race since the first edition but have not been able to, so to be able to compete this time, and to win it, is a great reward. I have had a lot of adventures, bad experiences on races, but I have had some great victories too. I have only ever won races which are round the world races.

Jean Le Cam: We always watched all the others, it is always interesting to watch what they are doing, and especially Bruno Garcia who I did the last race with, to see how they were doing. You have an interest in everyone, it is part of the daily life.

Skills, how they worked the boatBernard Stamm: " You have different skills. We covered everything together. I looked after the computer side of things and Jean did more of the techncial stuff on deck. We never, ever defined our roles as such. "

Wednesday, 25 of March, 2015 – 19:00hrs Barcelona, 18:00hrs UTCThe vastly experienced duo, Bernard Stamm (SUI) Jean Le Cam (FRA) have won the Barcelona World Race 2014-15 and set the reference time for the two crew round the world race: 84 days, 5 hours, 50 minutes and 25 seconds to complete the 23,321.76 miles of the theoretical course

Cheminées Poujoulat, co-skippered by Bernard Stamm, 51, (Switzerland) and Jean Le Cam, 55 (France), sailed to victory today, winning the third edition of the Barcelona World Race, the non stop, round the world race for two crew, crossing the finish line at 17:50:25hrs UTC (18:50:25hrs CET/Barcelona) in light winds, 10-15kts SE and smooth seas. The Swiss-French IMOCA 60 completed the theoretical course 23,321 nautical miles (43.191,9 Kilometres) of the theoretical course non stop (stops are penalized in this race) at an average of 11.53kts

The elapsed time for Stamm and Le Cam, since the start from Barcelona on 31st December 2014 at midday UTC, is 84 days, 5 hours, 50 minutes and 25 seconds. The actual distance over ground sailed by them is 27950 miles, at an average speed of 13.82 knots.

Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam have established the reference time for the race, which followed a different course for this edition: from Barcelona to Barcelona, passing all three great capes Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, leaving Antarctica to starboard. But for the first time the course went direct under New Zealand rather than diverting north to pass through the Cook Straits between North and South Island. This reduced the course distance by about 1280 miles compared with previous editions.

Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam: Two established ocean racing stars with long, established track recordsBernard Stamm is a happy man this evening. Just before Christmas 2013, in fact during the night between 23rd and 24th December, he had to be rescued after his IMOCA 60 completely split in two in force 9 winds and 10 metre waves when he was delivering his boat back to Brest from Brasil after racing in the Transat Jacques Vabre. Stamm made global headlines, describing later how he knew that in order to survive he had to take to the icy waters of the Western Approaches 170 miles from the Scilly Isles to 'swim for my life'

A year later he started this round the world race, and now, today Stamm has achieved his third victory in a round the world race, the first one non stop and two handed. The 51 year old Swiss skipper had already won the 2002/3 Around Alone solo; and again in 2006/07, under the most recent name of Velux 5 Oceans.

Theirs has proven a remarkab le partnership of close equals, a pair who have delivered victory thanks to their many, many years experiences, good and bad. They had never sailed together as a duo before this race, but had both achieved notable successes, racing two handed.

In turn, in his fifth round the world race , French legend Jean Le Cam, 55, known by some in his native France as "Le Roi Jean" (King Jean), adds his first ever outright victory in a round the world race to an extensive ocean racing record which stretches back 31 years, including second in the solo Vendée Globe in 2004-5 behind Vincent Riou.

In fact, now after winning 2013's Transat Jacques Vabre to Brazil with Riou,Jean Le Cam has won the two biggest IMOCA two-handed races back to back.

Le Cam, like Stamm, has also cheated death on the ocean, rescued by Riou from his cap sized IMOCA 60 200 miles from Cape Horn during the Vendée Globe 2008-9.

He is one of the few French skippers to win La Solitaire du Figaro three times.

A winning boat. An IMOCA legendThe IMOCA 60 Cheminées Poujoulat is a monohull designed by the Farr design office, launched in 2007. With it, Michel Desjoyeaux won the Vendée Globe 2008/09, with an elapsed time of 84 days, 3 hours and 9 minutes. Stamm and Le Cam have made a very similar time including two Gibraltar Straits crossings and two Mediterranean legs. In the Barcelona World Race 2010/2011, this IMOCA 60 was second with Spain's Íker Martínez and Xabi Fernandez as co-skippers. It made the start of Vendée Globe 2012/2013 with Jérémie Beyou. The boat has been modified several times to adjust to the rules evolution and improve its performance in big waves. With two victories and a second place in round the world races, this boat is established as a legend of he IMOCA class.

Three quarters of the globe as leaderCheminées Poujoulat took the first place of the race on the 17th of January, when they overtook Guillermo Altadill (Spain) and José Muñoz (Chile) on Neutrogena in an intense head to head battle, approximately off Rio de Janeiro. Before Neutrogena, Alex Thomson (United Kingdom) and Pepe Ribes (Spain) had lead the race until they lost the mast on the 14th of January. Stamm and Le Cam's rivalry with Neutrogena went on until Altadill and Muñoz had to pit stop for 24 hours in Bluff New Zealand on 12th February to repair an issue with their generator.

The arrivals of provisional second and third, Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos, is expected between 30th of March and 2nd of April.

Complicated finish miles, light winds for Cheminees PoujoulatA date with destiny is set, ETA Wednesday lunchtimeNeutrogena should increase their delta on GAES Centros AuditivosOut of the Doldrums for the Catalan match

Less than 400 miles from the finish line now, Cheminées Poujoulat are passed Cabo de Gata, east of Almeria, and are starting the final ascent of the Mediterannean out of the Alboran sea to Barcelona. Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam are forecast to finish some time between 1000hrs and midday on Wednesday, but still have some complicated final transitions standing between them and a well earned victory, which may make that ETA ambitious.

Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos are upwind in the NE'ly trade winds, SWW of the Canary Islands, One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton are emerging from the Doldrums with We Are Water.Renault Captur are putting two days of frustrating upwind, lights airs sailing behind them and hoping the road to the Doldrums and the northern hemisphere opens for them just as the forecasts seem to promise. And Spirit of Hungary'sNandor Fa remains in 'solo' mode - while co-skipper Conrad Colman recovers from a shoulder dislocation.

Cheminées Poujoulat have a date with destiny set. All things being equal the long time race leaders should complete the final 350 miles to the line with no major problems. Their lead is at just under 1200 miles over the second placed Neutrogena.They may have been granted a relatively quick passage of the Doldrums but the final miles to Barcelona on Wednesday might extract a payback as the last morning might resemble Doldrums-like conditions. Forecasts today put the Catalan city in an area of very light winds Wednesday making the actual ETA quite difficult to to judge.

Stamm and Le Cam are expected to run out of breeze this evening as a transition zone between the NE'ly Tramontana and the SW'ly in the south Mediterranean creates a no-go zone of very light airs.According to the weather models, unfortunately for the Cheminées Poujoulat duo this no go area seems set to follow them north to the Balearics. They should be just west of Ibiza tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon before they get into a more defined NE'ly. Strangely, the weather picture resembles start day, with the strong NE'ly blowing offshore well to the east of Barcelona, and NW'ly to the west and in between: not very much

In second Neutrogena look set to gain bigger miles on GAES Centros Auditivos. At present Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz are on a course which will take them just north of the Canary Islands tonight and tomorrow. But Anna Corbella and Gérard Marín do not seem to be able to make as much height, and so will have to route south of the island group, or through them.Anna Corbella said: "The weather situation is not offering a chance to try a strategic play to get closer to Neutrogena. This is now the worst part for us. At this heading the speed differences are non existent and even if we took any risk at all we would not catch up miles, we need to wait and see what the Mediterranean. We will wait patiently for our moment."

The battle to get into the NE'ly trade winds first seems to have ended with an even outcome between One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton and We Are Water. Over 12 0 miles to the east the advantage is certainly with Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa. But in theory the upwind speed and height advantage - which is already evident - should be with the Garcia brothers, Bruno and Willy. They should be able to close down the 90 miles differential - which is also slightly skewed as Gelabert and Costa are closer to the rhumb line course which is very much to their east right now.

Jorg Riechers and Seb Audigane have endured two or three mind numbingly dull days of light upwind sailing but the Renault Captur duo are convinced they have at last found the E'ly trade winds. Their decision now is how to best get across the Doldrums which they should encounter in two and a half to three days, having been painted into a corner, forced close to the Brazilian coast by the weather patterns.

Audigane reported:" It was the weather conditions that brought us here. We're not really that close, as the coast is 85-90 miles or so away. A little bit more now. We were forced to sail there. Last week, a low pressure area made things rather complicated for us. We sailed where the wind took us. Let's put it like that. Now we've been tacking upwind for two days, which is really annoying."" Today, the wind should come around on the edge of the high. We changed tack this morning, and in theory, the wind should continue to come around. We will be able to make our way towards the Doldrums, which we'll probably pass through quite some way out to the west. That should make things easier for us, but it doesn't mean that we'll catch the others (We Are Water and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton), as they are some way ahead and have been so for quite some time. Each time we were forced to tack, they just kept on sailing straight ahead. They were a bit slowed down in the Doldrums, but for the time being, it would be wrong to imagine some sort of magic comeback for Renault Captur."" We feel bad about having to stop, but we had no choice with the broken rudder, but that changed things for us and it's not as interesting. After turning back from New Zealand, we had to round two low-pressure areas in the south, while they just kept going str aight ahead. At the Horn, we were slowed down too, even if we got around it... So, as you can see, each time we were forced to tack, that added extra distance, while the boats ahead of us were quicker on a more direct route. We weren't really helped by the weather patterns. We're looking forward to getting away from this upwind tack to get to Barcelona quickly..."

Cheminees Poujoulat exit the North Atlantic and head into the MediterraneanOne Planet One Ocean and Pharmaton cross the Equator fourthConrad Colman falls head-first on Spirit of HungaryNeutrogena and GAES Centros Auditovos east-bound for Gibraltar

Jean Le Cam and Bernard Stamm on board Cheminées Poujoulat have become the first team to return to the Mediterranean in the Barcelona World Race, crossing the longitude of Gibraltar this morning at 08.30 (UTC). The leaders kept a course close to the North African shore, before a rapid transit through the Straits in a 20-knot southerly.

Cheminées Poujoulat now has fewer than 500 miles to cover before their arrival at the finish in Barcelona, and they are currently expected to arrive at lunchtime on Wednesday, March 25. They are currently heading north-east, on the Spanish side of the Alboran Sea, and can expect a period of upwind sailing in 5-10 knot winds over the next 24 hours due to a high pressure system south of Spain.

Second-placed Neutrogena is now on an east-bound course. Having reached the limits of the north-easterly trade winds yesterday afternoon, Guillermo Altadill and Jose Munoz made the turn for Europe ye sterday evening and are now sailing in more northerly breezes of 15-20 knots. Around 125 miles to the south-west, GAES Centros Auditivos has shadowed their manoeuvre in third and is now also heading east.

Equatorial battle

In the duel to cross into the Northern Hemisphere, it was One Planet One Ocean and Pharmaton who arrived at the Equator in fourth place. Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa crossed the 0° Latitude this afternoon at 14.20 (UTC), six days and 18 hours after third placed GAES Centros Auditivos.

Speaking this morning Gelabert said he'd welcomed the close competition with We Are Water in this stage of the race: "These days we have been pushing a little bit. We are trying to go out of the Doldrums as fast as possible. I presume that We Are Water are doing the same because everyone thinks it is very important to get out of the Doldrums as soon as possible. We are happy to have We Are Water close to us because then we are pushing a little bit more, and going fast to Barcelona is our final goal."

He and Costa have been pleased with their performance and report no problems on board, commenting: "We will keep pushing to try to maintain the fourth place, which we are going to have to do because We Are Water are going to push also, it's going to be really difficult to be further ahead of them. But the boat is in good condition, we don't have any issue with anything, so we can go 100% for the moment, and we will try to go as fast as possible as we always do.

"We know that we are faster than We Are Water but only because we have different weather conditions and we have been lucky with this, and our decisions have been very good. In theory their boat is a little bit faster so we try to go as fast as possible and if we make better times than them then perfect, but if not then we know that's normal and just to keep going."

About 170 miles to the west, We Are Water are experiencing a tortuous Doldrums, averaging just 1.5 knots boat speed and VMG since this morning's position report. The Garcia brothers are expected to cross the Equator around two hours after Gelabert and Costa, but may benefit from stronger breezes to the west this afternoon.

Sixth placed Renault Captur is predicted to cross the Equator in one week's time. At this afternoon's 1400hrs position report they were the fastest in fleet, heading north-east at over 11 knots in 15-20 knot northerlies, around 170 miles off the coast of Brazil.

Things that go bump

Spirit of Hungary encountered a confused sea state and 40 knot gusts as they passed a cold front off Uruguay, about 500 miles east of Montevideo. As the boat slammed in the irregular waves, Conrad Colman fell head-first and suffered severe bruising to his face and a suspected dislocated shoulder. He reports:

"I landed on my lef t shoulder and my head leaving the former dislocated and a large egg on my forehead. I screamed for Nandor who rushed from his bunk to help me sit up, only for my head to turn and I was forced to lay back in confused agony. Having previously dislodged my right shoulder and had it surgically repaired in 2012, I only hope that I can avoid that fate again with my new injury. I have good range of movement but significant pain and a significant sense of weakness in the joint.

"Thankfully we have pretty clement conditions lined up for the next few days but Nandor will have to do the manoeuvres solo as I am only capable of easing sheets, not winding the winches for now."

"These days we have been pushing a little bit. We are trying to go out of the Doldrums as fast as possible. I presume that We Are Water are doing the same because everyone thinks it is very important to get out of the Doldrums as soon as possible. We are happy to have We Are Water close to us because then we are pushing a little bit more, and going fast to Barcelona is our final goal.

"We will keep pushing to try to maintain the fourth place, which we are going to have to do because We Are Water are going to push also, it's going to be really difficult to be further ahead of them. But the boat is in good condition, we don't have any issue with anything, so we can go 100% for the moment, and we will try to go as fast as possible as we always do.

"We know that we are faster than We Are Water but only because we have different weather conditions and we have been lucky with this, and our decisions have been very good. In theory their boat is a little bit faster so we try to go as fast as possible and if we make better times than them then perfect, but if not then we know that's normal and just to keep going as fast as we can.

"These days we have to think a little bit about everything. The Doldrums obviously, because we have showers, we have thunderstorms, and we have to be very careful because here we can lose a lot. We can gain a little bit but we can lose a lot.

"We're not really tired. We have been working a lot but also we have time to rest because we are in the middle of a calm sea. We'll do some nav and then try to get as much rest as possible because we know that in a few hours we will have to do a lot of manoeuvres and sail changes maybe, or put in some reefs with the thunderstorms coming, so we try to rest. I think we are planning pretty well our rest so we don't feel too tired."

Conrad Col man, Spirit of Hungary:

"As expected the wind built from the NW with the approach of the concentrated depression that has been catching us up these last few days. Finally the cold front broke over with 40 knot gusts and a deluge of rain that flattened the seas and turned the crests a smoky white.

"There is always an abrupt change in the wind direction following a cold front and the new wind from the SW allowed us to ease the sheets and make tracks to the north on a broad reach. However, the boat slammed horribly in the confused waves left by the intersection of the new wind with the older established wave pattern. We were trying to avoid the boat from taking a beating and instead I took one myself. Coming in from the cockpit a particularly large slam wrenched away my slippery hand hold and I pitched head first into the bilge.

"I landed on my left shoulder and my head leaving the former dislocated and a large egg on my forehead. I screamed for Nandor who r ushed from his bunk to help me sit up, only for my head to turn and I was forced to lay back in confused agony. Having previously dislodged my right shoulder and had it surgically repaired in 2012, I only hope that I can avoid that fate again with my new injury. I have good range of movement but significant pain and a significant sense of weakness in the joint.

"Thankfully we have pretty clement conditions lined up for the next few days but Nandor will have to do the manoeuvres solo as I am only capable of easing sheets, not winding the winches for now. It will be good training for his Vendée Globe but here's hoping for a speedy recovery on my end. I'm not happy to be consigned to the role of ballast, and in pain to boot!"

The Azores high pressure system has proven to be a road block for Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam. Their passage northwards at the head of the Barcelona World Race fleet, saw them running out of breeze and so their tack eastwards, towards the Straits of Gibraltar, was made early this morning. And as the Swiss-French duo progress east towards the Moroccan coast, passing south of Madeira, they will reconnect with the better NE'ly trade winds.

Cheminées Poujoulat has 1100 miles to sail until the welcome of the pillars of Hercules the iconic gates to the Mediterranean formed by the Rock of Gibraltar on the European coast and Jebel Musa (852m high) in Morocco's Rif mountains.

Legend has it that, as one of his 12 labours, Hercules was required to fetch the cattle of Geryon and to deliver them to Eurystheus. But his way was blocked by the mountain which had been created by Perseus. Hercules smashed the mountain in half, the northern pillar becoming the Rock of Gibraltar and the southern one Jebel Musa.

The Swiss-French duo are due to pass back through the gates the evening of Sunday 22nd March. It will remain upwind all the way to the Moroccan coast but they should be progressively lifted as the trade wind backs a little more N'ly as they get closer to the coast. Today they were about 500 miles WNW of the Canary Islands. After tacking this morning their angle looked pretty horrible, pointing almost directly towards the islands, certainly south of east, but that has improved with speed today, making between nine and ten knots. Their lead remains static at just over 900 miles - or three to four days - ahead of Neutrogena.The battle for second and third retains a frustrating status quo for Anna Corbella and Gérard Marin. They lost one mile to the leaders since the same time yesterday and three miles to Neutrogena. Each day in the NE'ly trade winds, 105 miles behind Neutrogena,GAES Centros Auditivos are still devoid of options. They can on ly follow the best course of the boat in front, still fighting for each metre, but it does not stop Corbella from thinking of her first run on the Catalan beaches with her golden retriever and Marín will be eagerly anticipating being reunited with his daughter who was only four months old when he left on this three month race around the world. Pre-start the duo said they would be happy with a podium finish, but having been so close to Neutrogena - they will finish frustrated not to get close enough to have a go at passing in the Mediterranean.

The three boats now in the North Atlantic were granted a brisk, business-like passage through the Doldrums, but that does not look to be the case for We Are Water and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton. The band of calms and unsettled winds - 600 miles ahead - is widening all the time and it looks increasingly like it will slow this match race which this afternoon is just 30 miles apart.

High light of the day for the Renault Captur duo has been a shower and a shave, a tonic for their physical and mental fortitude given that they are close to the Uruguay and Brazilian coast trying to piece together a jigsaw of downwind and reaching lanes to get north while the route to the east is barred by the Saint Helena high. And Spirit of Hungary are making good speeds but start to have a high pressure ridge in front of them.

Skippers quotes:Aleix Gelabert (ESP) One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton:"At the moment we are in the tradewinds of the South Atlantic 15-17kts, we are happy with this. I think We Are Water should be faster in all conditions, but if we have any opportunity with more wind, with 25kts reaching is the only way that we have an opportunity to pass them. But if we have the same conditions again then maybe we will have an opportunity to pass them.Chronobiology testing?I think our brains have changed a little bit, they told us that would happen. Sometimes when you do the test then you think you have a clear brain and you will do it very well and you don't do so good. So sometimes it shows our brains are tireder than we think. Let's see how are our brains are when we reach Barcelona and they test us again.Doldrums?The conditions in the Doldrums will be a little bit difficult for us. I think that the three boats which have already passed had really good conditions. But for us and for We Are Water it looks really difficult, really tricky, really wide. And maybe we will spend three of four days getting out of there."

Cheminees Poujoulat predicted Gibraltar 22nd March and Barcelona early 25th MarchThe count down to the Mediterranean comes as leader tacks east.Options reducing for GAES Centros AuditivosLooking to the future

Cheminées Poujoulat, Barcelona World Race leaders, are expected to make their tack towards the Mediterannean this evening, albeit still with about 1100 miles to sail to Gibraltar. Current routing has them into the Med on Sunday 22nd March. The final stage to Barcelona should take around two and a half to three days which, everything remaining equal, would see the Swiss-French duo finishing some time on 25th March.

Cheminées Poujoulat, Barcelona World Race leaders, are expected to make their tack towards the Mediterannean this evening, albeit still with about 1100 miles to sail to Gibraltar. Current routing has them into the Med on Sunday 22nd March. The final stage to Barcelona should take around two and a half to three days which, everything remaining equal, would see the Swiss-French duo finishing some time on 25th March.

For the moment the pacemakers are still in relatively settled 12-14kts NE'ly trade winds in the south of the Azores high pressure system. They are expected to tack east, passing between the Canary Islands and Madeira and then route closer to the African coast where there is better breeze.

Right now routine is both friend and enemy. Vigilance and discipline remain priorities. For all three duos in the North Atlantic this is when the race can really start to drag, there is only so much trimming and tweaking can be done. The head and body are fully engaged in the mechanics of making the boat go as fast as possible but the finish line beckons. The mind inevitably drifts to Barcelona and eight or nine days time, to fresh food, laughter, a dry bed and hotel facilities in the Catalan capital, reunited with friends and family.

And on board as well as the regular requirements of weather routing, maintenance, rest, the talk will become more focused on future IMOCA an d race projects - learned practical, pragmatic details like ergonmics and protection - but also the pie-in-the-sky new IMOCA 60 has no doubt been designed and finessed by the duos down to the small details.

About now reality starts to bite. While the Barcelona World Race duos have been racing around the world, the competitive sailing world has still been spinning around too. A whole new generation of IMOCA 60s are on the stocks, launched or ready to be launched. Some Barcelona skippers no doubt have their future mapped out, but life beyond the finish line is also looming large.

Options evaporatingFor the duos in second and third just 92 miles separates Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos. Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz are a click faster than Anna Corbella and Gérard Marín. Corbella has mixed feelings about the race soon being over:" We are happy because we are closer to home. We are sailing upwind with the trade winds, so we only have to wait for the days to pass and then we will be at home. We are happy at the moment."She is clear that their passing lanes have largely run out and their reality is that final chances are really limited to the approach to the Mediterranean and the final four or five hundred miles in the home sea of three of the four Catalan co-skippers.

Corbella continues:"We don't have a lot of chances to catch Neutrogena at the moment because we are sailing upwind. The speeds of the boats are similar and the only difference is we are a little bit more in the east. So maybe we can gain something for that. At the moment we don't see a lot of options. Probably we will get a little bit closer to them and then in the Mediterranean we weill try to catch them.We feel like that the courses are a straight line and it is the same for Neutrogena, because the wind is not going to change. So it is like a road with not many options. We go north, we will tack and probably in the Med there will be some options."

Eleven hundred miles south of the equator the balance is tipped back in favour of We Are Water. Mid ocean rendezvous checked off their 'to do' list, Bruno and Willy Garcia had stepped away from Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa with more speed. But this Tuesday afternoon there are still only nine miles - north south - separating them and speeds remain resoloutely even in the 12-14kts ENE'ly breeze. Renault Captur appear to have their mojo back, fastest in the fleet over the 24hours to 0500hrs UTC. But Jorg Riechers and Seb Audigane had to gybe and negotiate a ridge of lighter airs since then, making a modest 10-11kts NW this afternoon.Spirit of Hungary have been making hay since Cape Horn, sailing good speeds today in pleasingly brisk W'ly winds. They passed through the Le Maire straits and are 65 miles west of the Falklands this afternoon. Conrad Colman wrote of their passage today:

" After missing out on seeing the Isla Hornos despite passing only three miles away, I was particularly keen to head north via the Straights of Le Maire that offer a short cut between the end of the patagonian mainland and Isla de De Los Estados. The straights are known for strong unwieldy currents and strange wind shifts and so it proved to be today. We reached in on an easterly and underneath a small band of cloud the wind did a U turn in 20 seconds and we ended up punching out on a strong north westerly wind that has carried us rapidly up to the Falkland Islands."" It was really special to be able to shave the island on the way as we haven't seen land since New Zealand (there aren't any islands that far south in the Pacific) and it was a joy to set our eyes on something that wasn't moving for a while. The ragged grey cliffs and stunted tussock grass speak volumes about the weather here as any plant with delusions of grandeur would be chewed off by the constant gnawing teeth of the constant gales. There is a rugged timeless beauty in these inhospitable cliffs and valleys and I like passing by the end of the earth knowing that at least this corner of the world will remain untrammelled and might still look how it did centuries ago."

Whole Fleet in the AtlanticSpirit of Hungary pass Cape HornGAES Centros Auditivos cross back into northern hemisphereOne Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton and We Are Water race less than two miles apartCheminees Poujoulat less than 2000 miles from the finish

With race leader Cheminées Poujoulat now at less than 2000 miles to the finish line in Barcelona and Spirit of Hungary now safely passing Cape Horn early this morning, the Barcelona World Race fleet is all safely in the Atlantic.

Release came for Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman at 0613hrs UTC this morning when they passed the mythical light. After having a nasty low pressure nipping at their transom for the last week, the Hungarian-Kiwi duo have had light to moderate winds since passing Cape Horn, a chance to enjoy some respite after a very intense week of stress and continuous effort.

For Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam, leading brings no less stress than their rivals endure. Cheminées Poujoulat was obliged to work east last night and this morning in a fitful shifty breeze and during yesterday evening and night made five tacks - probably as many as they have they have done since leaving Gibraltar. Nearly eight hundred miles SE by E of the Canary islands, the top duo are now expected to pass Gibraltar on 22nd March. The countdown to their finish has begun, really. This is their last Monday in the Atlantic. But with a lead now at 906 miles (corrected today) they will stil l be pressing on, not least because Neutrogena has gained 600 miles in a week.

Indeed looking at the 585 miles between Gibraltar to Barcelona, in fact the average windspeed over the whole Mediterranean route today is certainly less than 10kts!

It has not been much better for the leaders in the Atlantic who made just 147 miles in 24 hours, second placed Neutrogena 161 miles.

Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos are giving their everything in their own race with each other, battling for the podium places. Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín are blessed today with a more favourable trade winds, more easterly than that of their rivals Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz. As a result GAES Centros Auditivos are able to sail a more direct angle, for the meantime, and so have caught to be about 150 miles behind the second placed duo.

Corbella and Marín had reason to celebrate last night. The Catalan duo crossed the Equator and returned to the north at 19:58 UTC (20:58 in Barcelona). They crossed north 21 hours and 40 minutes after the Neutrogena and 5 days, 23 hours and 08 minutes after the leader, Cheminées Poujoulat.

Rio head to headThe real regatta within the ocean race is between We Are Water and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton. The friends and rivals are racing within one and a half miles of each other. In light SE'ly trade winds they are 950 miles SE of the Olympic city of Rio, in a situation more akin to an afternoon speed testing between the two Barcelona IMOCA 60s.Gelabert might be channeling his past as an Olympic 49er campaigner. But equally the two friendly crews have been conversing on VHF, encouraging and joking with one another.

The situation for Renault Captur is too much in the opposite extreme. Jorg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane find the wind patterns in the South Atlantic disturbed by a low pressure which has them sailing upwind,feeling quite disconnected from their nearest rivals:

Riechers reported this morning:"We are in a difficult spot. We are passing a low pressure system and so it is really unstable. We have between 10 and 25 kts and a lot of gusts, and so at the moment we have a gust of 25kts. And it is really, really unsettled. It is a real contrast to the conditions that We Are Water and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton are in. We are lonely, disconnected from fourth and fifth place. We are still a long way in front of Nandor. So it is difficult to have any focus at the moment. Fourth and fifth places are probably gone."

The passage of Cape Horn proved to be fulfilling and exciting for Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman. Although it was 0313hrs local time as they passed, the duo got close to the land and the light, as Colman noted shortly after:" The wind ignored the forecast and dropped until we were gliding along in just over 10 knots of wind. The drama was reserved for the heavens however, as sunset brought a yellow and pinkish hue that was diffused by the indigo blue and purple storm clouds that threatened us from behind. In the light winds we could play the tourist, sneaking passed the rock just three miles off, giving us time enough to pay tribute to Neptune and all those sailors whose wakes we crossed.I was inspired to take up a life at sea by Sir Peter Blake- Kiwi adventurer, environmentalist and ruthless competitor in the Whitbread (now Volvo Ocean Race). Hearing his voice on a crackly radio telling tall tales of derring do while trading blows with his competitors in between the icebergs of the Southern Ocean ignited my imagination as a young boy and continues to drive me today. His era is over, race directors protect us from our dangerous competitive spirits, but his capacity to do whatev er it took to get the job done has certainly characterised Nandor's and my race so far."

Tracking Error Rectified and Explained.An error in the tracking calculation was rectified by tracking and positioning supplier Geovoile prior to this morning's 0900hrs positions report.The error was due to the configuration of the waypoints after Cape Horn and has been affecting the DTF (Distance to Finish) calculation of leaders Cheminées Poujoulat and the DTL (Distance to Leader) of the other boats for the previous 36 hours.

Their Barcelona World Race has proven a challenge above and beyond that of some of their rivals. Seasoned Hungarian veteran Nandor Fa and hard driving, young Kiwi Conrad Colman formed their partnership just weeks before the start, setting off round the world on an IMOCA 60 which was designed by Fa and had only just been finished. Their only crew training and testing was an upwind delivery slog to Barcelona from Trieste. When the start gun sounded they had still never gybed a gennaker together. And this last week, their tenth at sea, has been dominated by the relentless rhythm of the gnarly, Pacific, when 30kts starts to feel light and 35-40kts the default norm.

Hence there will be enormous satisfaction aboard Spirit of Hungary when Fa and Colman cross Cape Horn tonight. They are definitely looking forwards to the release, to the change of regime, whatever the Atlantic may bring, but Colman for one says he will miss the malevolent majesty, the ever present threat, of the south Pacific.

The young Kiwi summed up the ocean racer's addiction to the south today, at some 250 miles from Cape Horn:" Raw... Beautiful... Furious. It is hard to find a word to sum up our circumstances at the moment. We are brushing the top of probably our last real Southern Ocean depression and for the past 18 hours have had wind of 40 knots, gusting 45 to 50. The swells, big for weeks now have grown into mountainous seas. Easily 8 to 10 meters in height with lofty cornices blown higher by the storm force gusts, they tower over us and curl to break noisily in a thundering crash.Here, speed is our friend because as the waves pull up the stern we slide away from the breakers like a lithe dancer, but this is a dancer fighting for its life. Spirit of Hungary is tired and creaks and groans and burys its bow in the trough between the waves. After all the sail patches stuck, stitches sewn, blood spilled, sweat dripped and sleep missed while we have been down in the cold southern latitudes it will be a relief to turn the corner and make it back into the relative safety of the Atlantic. Instead of endless seas and gliding birds we will again be surrounded by tankers and cargo ships, flying fish and ports of call.

Despite all of that, I will be sad to leave these frigid unfriendly waters. Its empowering to pass point Nemo and shout out to the world, knowing that there is no one and nothing to echo back. In our modern era it is truly rare to be totally self reliant and responsible for whatever circumstance that may arise. There's that side and also the beauty of Nature in the raw."

The Hungarian-Kiwi duo will be the final Barcelona World Race partnership out of the Pacific and into the Atlantic. Race Direction in Barcelona, who maintain a 24/7 vigil watching the seven dots pass across their screens, also probably will give quiet thanks for a safe passage through the Big South.

Neutrogena became the second boat back into the Northern Hemisphere last night, crossing the Equator at 22:18 UTC. Guillermo Altadill and José Muñoz may have passed five days after Cheminées Poujoulat, but now at just 601 miles behind Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam, that can be more like two to three good racing days. GAES Centros Auditivos will become the third boat across, passing into the north this evening. Neutrogena have made back more than 900 miles on Cheminées Poujoulat in the last week. GAES Centros Auditivos have correspondingly reduced their deficit behind Neutrogena to just 134 miles.

Somewhat remarkably after 74 days and something like 21500 miles of racing, rivals We Are Water and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton can see each other in the South Atlantic.The theoretically slower One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton has gone from being a slightly distant threat to We Are Water, to having the real potential to overtake. Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa reported today that they could see the IMOCA 60 of Bruno and Willy Garcia on their port bow.

Bruno Garcia said today:"We enjoy the pressure and this race is making our days shorter. We live each day very intensely and so we like it. There is a race, they are doing well, and we are trying to keep them behind us, but it won't be easy."" To be honest it is difficult to say because we have not had a lot of luck with the weather. We have to fight day to day as it comes because we don't really know what the key is, the Doldrums, Gibraltar, the last miles on the Mediterranean? We don't know.

In sixth place Renault Captur has said goodbye to the South. As Sébastien Audigane and Jorg Riechers said this morning"Last night, the sunset, an albatross came by and seemed to say goodbye ... At least this is what I like to think. The 40s left in our wake, water temperature gradually increases, we enjoy some sun in the Atlantic and soon enjoy a good shower ".

Skippers Quotes:Bruno Garcia (ESP) We Are Water: " We are Mediterranean people and so we cope better with the heat than the cold. Clearly we are feeling better as we go north."We enjoy the pressure and this race is making our days shorter. We live each day very intensely and so we like it. There is a race, they are doing well, and we are trying to keep them behind us, but it won't be easy.To be honest it is difficult to say because we have not had a lot of luck with the weather. We have to fight day to day as it comes because we don't really know what the key is, the Doldrums, Gibraltar, the last miles on the Mediterranean. We don't know.

We have had very, very nice conditions to come north in the South Atlantic. And for the next few days we have calm weather, and afetr that we should have the trade winds, the SE trade winds, so the conditions should be quite nice. But right now we have a lot of rain. It is like Brittany. We have had a shower, it was great.You always have a moment here and there to think about finishing, the arrival in Barcelona, that happens all the way through the race. We are not so obsessed about that, we set short term goals, Cabo Frio latitude, the Doldrums, things like that. So we are living step by step.

The main things are all OK. We have a lot of small things to repair, because we only had two months to prepare, I suppose.

Neutrogena cross the Equator this eveningSpirit of Hungary walk a tightrope to Cape HornCatalan Match sees One Planet One Ocea & Pharmaton back on the charge

As Neutrogena crosses the Equator this evening there will be a certain disparity of feelings between the two skippers, Guillermo Altadill and José Muñoz, a rare situation in a partnership which is clearly working well.For Muñoz, from Algarrobo, Chile, will look to the stars tonight and feel like he is sailing out of his home hemisphere, whilst Catalan Altadill will be marking his return to his home Northern Hemisphere.

They are very much a complementary duo, a team which is working well, lying in second place. The sailing CV of Altadill extends to many pages, from Olympic coach to maxi multi record attempts. The boat they sail together was built for him in England for the first edition of the Barcelona Wolrd Race. Muñoz started out with no IMOCA 60 experience at all, but has fed off the knowledge and experience of Altadill. And over recent days they have maximised their speeds to reduce their deficit to leaders Cheminées Poujoulat to 870 miles today.Their gains have been halted by the passage of the Doldrums, slowed to eight to 10kts, but they should slide across the Equator around 2200hrs UTC.

Cheminées Poujoulat continue their northwards climb, extending into slightly increasing trade winds. Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam are about 360 miles WNW of the Cape Verde islands today making just over 12kts.

Spirit of Hungary have about 550 miles left to sail to Cape Horn, Nandor Fa said today he is expecting to round the lonely rock in the small hours of Monday morning. Spurred by the same strong low pressure system they have been with for five or six days, according to co-skipper Conrad Colman there is a 'little bit of a tightrope walk' during their approach. They have to press as hard they dare so that they can outrun a bigger, more active depression which is behind them and chasing hard. But the duo have it foremost in their minds that they need to preserve Spirit of Hungary and themselves for the climb up the Atlantic. Conrad Colman said:"Spirit of Hungary, despite out best efforts is not at 100 per cent. So we cannot push hard with these strong conditions that we have and so we need to throttle back to preserve the boat. But we cannot slow down too much because there is a new depression forming behind us, and it is due to bring with it anothe r round of 50kts. So if we stay with our routing we should pass the Horn with 20-25kts from the north, and if we are slow we get 50kts. Nandor and I are talking a lot to make sure we are both happy with the level of performance that we are aiming at. But it is tricky to get it right."

For Conrad Colman it will be his second passage of Cape Horn. He rounded on 22nd February 2012 leading the Global Ocean Race, passing 87 miles south of the island, also then being chased by a big gale. And for Nandor Fa it will be his fourth time. He rounded for his first time during a 1985-87 round the world voyage on a 31 foot boat he and his friend and co-skipper had built and finished from a hull. The second time was in 1991-1992 on the BOC solo round the world race and the third was on the 1992-1993 Vendée Globe. Fa recalled today:

" The last time when I was here it was in 1992 and we had 75 kts of wind in the gusts and 60 on average. So that was very tough weather then and it is looking similar this time. My last experience is strong winds, high seas, stormy conditions. And a very tough passage. That is my memory of this area in the past.At the moment I have no imagination of what will happen at the Horn. I just try to go safely and we will see what it is like when we get there. I think when we pass we will celebrate, somehow."

And meantime in the South Atlantic, due east of Florianopolis, Brazil the Catalan match between We Are Water and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton sees them still separated by 64 miles, racing in a good vein of SE'ly pressure but they will run into a high pressure ridge which could see them compress closer together.

Skippers quotesConrad Colman (NZL) Spirit of Hungary:"It is very, very cold at the moment, especially because we just had a cold front come through in the depression which we are currently sailing in, and so we went from overcast skies and quite a lot of wind, to beautiful clear skies with more wind. So there is a nice moon and clear skies, but it is freezing cold.We eat lots just now, there is a lot of soup and tea being drunk so we can fule the inner fire to keep us going. And then there is a lot of drying out of socks and things on the engine cover so we are warm and dry.Strong winds and big depressions are nothing new for us at the moment. And so it is standard fare of 35-40kts, gusting 50, with big swells which we have had since the middle of the Pacific and so it is a very badly named ocean this one, there is nothing peaceful about it.But it is fun. I am really enjoying it. It is pretty magical to be down here, it is far from easy. It is nice to be getting closer to the Horn because there we get to turn left and start heading back to Europe and home. But at the same time it is sad as well because I love it down here. I love playing with the Albatross and the big waves. There is something very special about being so far away from land and humanity, just relying on ourselves. It is an experience I am going to miss.It is a little big of a tightrope walk for us at the moment because Spirit of Hungary, despite out best efforts is not at 100 per cent. So we cannot push hard with these strong conditions that we have and so we need to throttle back to preserve the boat, but we cannot slow down too much because there is a new depression forming behind us, and it is due to bring with it another round of 50kts. So if we stay with our routing we should pass the Horn with 20-25kts from the north, and if we are slow we get 50. Nandor and I are talking a lot to make sure we are both happy with the level of performance that we are aiming at. But it is tricky to get it right.It is the accumulation of little problems we have had so far.Memories?I have yet to see Cape Horn. The last time I came through I was being chased by a monstrous storm with 60kts in it. So I passed the Horn 80 miles south and went all the way round and so I have not seen a thing yet. It looks like I will be going through in darkness and so I will just have to come back for a third time to see the Horn properly. But regardless it has been and will be magical to pass this famous line of longitude. And I am looking forwards to getting there in a little less than 48 hours.We still have two small bottles of Cava on board and we will have some of that and scream with joy because it has been a long time coming. Sometimes we have doubted if we would get here. And so Nandor and I are looking forwards to it. We have worked pretty hard at but it is going to feel pretty good when we get there.

]]>marcelkrebs@sport-heute.ch (Marcel Krebs)Barcelona World Race 2014-15Sat, 14 Mar 2015 18:19:02 +0100The Best of Luck. The Best of Times? http://sport-heute.ch/sailing/sailing-information/barcelona-world-race-2014-15/1788-the-best-of-luck-the-best-of-times
http://sport-heute.ch/sailing/sailing-information/barcelona-world-race-2014-15/1788-the-best-of-luck-the-best-of-times

Atlantic ascent increasingly favourable for Stamm and Le CamNeutrogena gain nearly 600 miles in four days!!Spirit of Hungary look to Cape Horn passage

Superstitions run deep among competitive sailors, especially French ocean racers. But on a round the world race which has now spanned two Friday 13ths, it is not bad luck but good luck today which is running with Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam on their Barcelona World Race leading IMOCA 60 Cheminées Poujoulat.

Just as the South Atlantic opened to give them a fast and favourable passage from Cape Horn to the Equator, so now the Atlantic after the Cape Verde Islands, is lining up an improved route to the Straits of Gibraltar where they are expected on 21st March.

Yesterday's course in the NE'ly Trade Winds looked set to need two or three tacks to make it to the entrance to the Mediterranean. But this Friday 13th (the second one) sees the winds now veering to allow the Azores to be laid on this one starboard tack. As the files line up today, Stamm and Le Cam would then tack at 150 or 160 miles south of the island group to make it all the way to the Med which they left on the night of January 2nd. Of course forecasting ten days ahead is far from a precise science, but things do look even rosier today for the fleet leaders.

Bernard Stamm, on the subject of Friday 13th and beating upwind, commented today:"Yes, as far as the weather goes, it's not too bad. In the south it was very windy. You might not have noticed, but we had a lot of wind, which meant that we could make good headway, but there were nevertheless moments when it was complicated to get the speed up because of the seas. In general, I would say we have been lucky. Let's hope that continues. We had more or less forgotten what it was like to sail upwind. We're not very fast and heeled right over. But that was to be expected. It's the normal weather. Better this than no wind at all."

CloserSecond placed Neutrogena - 360 miles to the Equator - have continued to close miles on Cheminées Poujoulat at a meaningful rate. In four days Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz have recovered a remarkable 570 miles, dropping their deficit back under the 1000 miles mark this morning. And this afternoon it is 951, with the flying Catalan-Chilean partnership making a full 9.2kts faster speeds than Cheminées Poujoulat. Neutrogena is being pressed hard by the vastly experienced Altadill and Munoz taking full advantage in their good SE'ly trades to also gain more miles on Anna Corbella and Gérard Marín on GAES Centros Auditivos. Now over 300 miles south of their nearest rivals, GAES Centros Auditivos have lighter Trade Winds as Anna Corbella ruefully noted today.

"We are sailing north quite fast, but not as fast as Neutrogena and for the next few days it looks pretty much the same. We are not expecting big changes and so it will be difficult to do something to gain some miles, because the conditions are very stable and all that we can do is go is fast as we can."

The Catalan Match.If the advantage has swung more decisively in the favour of Neutrogena, in 'Match 1', 1400 miles south in 'Match 2', the all-Catalan bout between the Garcia brothers on We Are Water and Didac Costa and Aleix Gelabert on One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton, the two IMOCA 60s are still toe to toe in the South Atlantic. Speeds are even and there is still just 49 miles between the friends and rivals. Their outlook is not so clear, struggling to find a path to good trade winds, but it remains even more complicated for the 'Cape Horn Heroes', Renault Captur. Their passage northwards is looking complicated, rolling into NE'ly headwinds today. The final two days in the Pacific will continue to be 'sportif' for the Spirit of Hungary duo Nando Fa and Conrad Colman, still racketing east on the same low pressure that they have become attached to for five days, making 15kts.

Bernard Stamm (SUI) Cheminées Poujoulat:Are you thinking of Gibraltar and the finish?"We think about it a bit, but there's still a long way to go. If you look at the scale of the round the world voyage, of course, we're getting closer, but it is still further than the distance sailed in a Route du Rhum, so quite some distance to go.Your fastest circumnavigation?"No I have been around the world in 50 days on Orange. It was different with a crew and maxi-multi and there was a BOC Challenge which was very fast, but the course was different. But this is certainly fast.

A record for the Barcelona World Race?"It's not something we think about at all. Well, I don't. And I don't know about Jean but I don't think so. It's a curiosity, an aside, the icing on the cake, not a goal or an objective. The goal is to finish, to complete the course and to win. Now, if there is a record on top of that, well and good. We will carry on the way we are, even with this lead we continue to push the boat as hard as possible. It's not like we have the brakes on because of this lead.

Satisfactions right now?"There are a lot of positives. Our routing, the course we have sailed, other than a small bit at Gibraltar where we missed out after the start of the race, we have really done what we wanted. We have kept the boat together. We have had a lot of techncial problems, we have fixed them and kept going, at least until now. And I have got along with Jean and so all in all it is very positive. We are not there yet, though"

Different trade winds but Neutrogena pulling back miles on the leadersDuels continue for second to fifthSpirit of Hungary less than 1000 miles to Cape Horn

Cheminées Poujoulat's lead at the head of the Barcelona World Race is being eroded the rate of over 100 miles a day by the ever tenacious duo of Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz on Neutrogena. Spirit of Hungary are less than 1000 miles to Cape Horn.

But with a lead of 1165 miles and 2589 miles to sail to the finish in Barcelona, right now Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam are not going to be biting their nails unduly. The advance of Neutrogena is only one stress among others.

The leading duo have constantly spoken out against complacency, letting their guard down. They know that misfortune has visited skippers in the closing stages of many of the recent IMOCA 60 Round the World Races. They know that after more than 21,500 miles of hard racing the boats are at least as tired as their skippers. And the concept of....... 'well, we have made it this far, so chances are we should make to the finish' holds no substance.' Indeed the regular, almost metronomic slamming upwind in the NE'ly trades at best works your dental fillings loose, and worst exposes the small weaknesses to become big problems. As ever, setting the red line, how hard to press, is probably more relevant now for the t op three boats as it is at any time in the race.

The last cut is the deepest?Jean-Pierre Dick lost the four tonne bulb off his keel of Virbac-Paprec 3 with just over 2000 miles to go during the last Vendée Globe and lost third to Alex Thomson. Spain's Javier Sanso lost his keel 360 miles south of the Azores whilst on course to complete that same race and had to retire. In the previous edition in Feburary 2009 Marc Guillemot dropped his entire keel at 960 miles to the finish in Les Sables d'Olonne. Days earlier Roland Jourdain lost second place in that edition, chasing victor Michel Desjoyeaux, when his keel fell off Véolia 600 miles from the Azores.Estrella Damm, during the last Barcelona World Race had their strongest winds, and boat breaking conditions when Pepe Ribes and Alex Pella were returning back through the Straits of Gibraltar.

It is never, ever over until the finish line is crossed.

Guillermo Altadill, the well travelled Spanish skipper on Neutrogena is clearly continuing to press the Farr IMOCA 60 as hard he and Munoz dare. They have opened distance on third placed GAES Centros Auditivos again today to be 233 miles ahead of Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín this afternoon.Since yesterday Neutrogena have added more than 40 miles to their advance ahead of their pursuers, as well as clawing back 278 miles on the leaders. But, in comparison to Stamm and Le Cam,Altadill and Munoz are reaching, making easier miles in E'ly trades, whilst the leaders are slamming, almost upwind in moderate NE'ly trades. Cheminées Poujoulat will pass the Cape Verdes tomorrow and likely have another two or three tacks to make before Gibraltar which they should reach on 21st March. Stamm and Le Cam have been especially quick in the South Atlantic, sailing between Cape Horn and the Eq uator in just 12 days, 19 hours and 57 minutes.

Duelling DuosAnd within that race for the top five places two duels endure. Neutrogena v GAES Centros Auditivos has ebbed and flowed since Altadill and Munoz restarted from New Zealand on 13th February. Corbella and Marín got as close as five miles astern in the Pacific, but in the Atlantic, Neutrogena have stepped away steadily. But they have a Doldrums 'lite' experience ahead, a relatively straightforwards transition expected.

If the duel for second and third is maybe opening out, the battle for fourth and fifth remains close. This morning there was just seven miles - terms of distance to finish - between We Are Water in fourth and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton in fifth. Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa continue to defy predictions with the former Kingfisher and this evening there is 23 miles between them and the Garcia brothers on We Are Water which has been faster th is afternoon

Skippers quotesDidac Costa (ESP) One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton:"We are pushing hard towards Barcelona not because we want to get the fourth position. We know we are very clsoe to fourth position, but we want just to arrive in Barcelona and to sail as fast as we can to get there. Before the race we learned a lot about the boat and its performance and so now we do know how to go fast with this boat. And also we are really confident with the boat and we have had very good weather conditions. This has been more the reasons that have made the difference because we are going faster than in the beginning. We are more confident and know the boat better."

Renault Captur skippers reveal how they sailed through a 70-knot storm after rounding Cape Horn"These are the most stressful conditions I have seen in 25 years" Sébastien AudiganeLeaders Cheminées Poujoulat enter the North Atlantic tradewindsWe Are Water cover 400 miles in 24 hours

On Day 70 of the Barcelona World Race, Jörg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane revealed that they encountered 70-knot gusts after rounding Cape Horn yesterday.

Speaking in video conference today the Renault Captur skippers spoke of their relief at surviving what Audigane, who has now rounded the Horn four times, called "The most stressful conditions I have seen in 25 years."

For German co-skipper Jörg Riechers, his first rounding of the landmark transpired to be the most severe Cape Horn crossing in the Barcelona World Race's history. Riechers commented today, "We survived it. It was not easy."

"Rounding Cape Horn was pretty easy. We had 35-40kts of wind. And just after the Cape, we thought OK, it is going to be easy. No stress. But one mile after Cape Horn came the first gust, 70kts of wind, so the boat was lying flat with the third reef in the main and the J3. So from there we were a b it scared, we bore away and rolled up the J3, and continued with the triple reefed mainsail. And still we surfed at 24 to 25kts. The seas were very white and very steep. In the end it was pretty scary. So for my first rounding of Cape Horn it was a big one.

"You are not super, super scared. But you ask yourself the questions. With a triple reefed main and with the boat on the edge of control, with the rudder problem, you can only steer with the autopilot, you just stay inside. You ask yourself what is going to happen if the autopilot freaks out and makes a mistake? Then you have a real, real big problem."

The waiting game

Sébastien Audigane explained how the pair prepared for the storm and, once in its midst, rode it out together at the chart table in their survival suits:

"Two and a half days ago we contemplated turning round to avoid it. It was the perfect storm with a very low depression in the centre. Looking closely we judged we could pass it. But I confess that during the storm we looked at each other and said "This is a bullsh*t idea". Once you are in it there is little you can do to manage the situation. The boat did well under three reefs. The only worry was our dear autopilot might give up on us.

"After the Horn, when we hit 70 knots and the wind was consistently at 60, we sat it out, watching what was going on outside from time to time as we waited at the chart table, ready to adjust the autopilot if needed. These are the most stressful conditions I have seen in 25 years.

"We don't try to get ourselves into these situations. We had prepared the boat as best we could. We stacked the boat as best we could, we had our survival suits on and were ready psychologically."

The boat was monitored constantly through the extreme conditions by the Race Direction team of the Barcelona World Race, liaising closely with the Chilean Navy and MRCC.

Tra dewinds racing

At the front of the fleet, Cheminées Poujoulat has entered the North Atlantic tradewinds. Now just 2,600 miles from Barcelona, Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam have exited the Doldrums and are sailing in north-easterly winds of around 14 knots as they make miles to the north.

Second-placed Neutrogena, although some 1,300 miles to the south, has chipped another 100 miles off the leaders' advantage, sailing consistently 1-2 knots faster than third placed GAES Centros Auditivos.

We Are Water and One Planet One Ocean Pharmaton have shadowed each other since rounding the Horn. This morning, however, the Garcia brothers on We Are Water were sailing at over 16-17 knots to One Planet One Ocean's 12-13, and began pulling away from their long-term neighbours as they clocked up over 400 miles in 24 hours. This afternoon One Planet One Ocean Pharmaton are once again matching We Are Water for speed, with around 60 miles now between the two boats.

The real deal

The last remaining boat in the South Pacific, Spirit of Hungary, is approaching the edge of a large low pressure system that has seen them consistently sailing in 40-plus knots.

Conrad Colman blogged last night: "It feels a little lonely out here in the middle of the South Pacific, what with the rest of our fleet already around the Horn and the Volvo guys still tucked up in Auckland. For company we only have a monster depression centred south-east of us and directly on our route. At 2000 miles across and with a deep centre at 968 mb this is the real deal. We are broad reaching in a solid 40 knots with three reefs and the staysail, which feels pretty conservative, but when the 50 knot gusts roll through we wouldn't want anything more up!"

Skippers' quotes:

Jörg Riechers, Renault Captur

"We survived it. It was not easy. Now actually, all in all, it is good, we have 20kts and are reaching with the big gennaker, which we have not seen for a long time. We have clear skies. So it is a bit of a contrast between yesterday and today.

"Rounding Cape Horn was pretty easy. We had 35-40kts of wind. And just after the Cape, we thought OK, it is going to be easy. No stress. But one mile after Cape Horn came the first gust, 70kts of wind, so the boat was lying flat with the third reef in the main and the J3. So from there we were a bit scared, we bore away and rolled up the J3, and continued with the triple reefed mainsail. And still we surfed at 24 to 25kts. The seas were very white and very steep. In the end it was pretty scary. So for my first rounding of Cape Horn it was a big one.

"You are not super, super scared. But you ask yourself the questions. With a triple reefed main and with the boat on the edge of control, with the rudder problem, you can only s teer with the autopilot, you just stay inside. You ask yourself what is going to happen if the autopilot freaks out and makes a mistake? Then you have a real, real big problem."

"That was a bit scary. Every 10 years a day like that is OK, but no more often than that. But today I am really pleased. We were slightly gutted with our race after the rudder issue. But in the end when you see it what you have achieved, for me first time, it's such a big achievement. And continuing on after New Zealand and the rudder failure, we wanted to finish the race, we wanted to continue. It is an even better achievement. The result is not going to be what we wanted but the result will be an achievement in itself."

Sébastien Audigane, Renault Captur

"Five to six hours before Cape Horn we had the passage of the front with 55kts of wind and rough seas. It dropped away a bit. And then the depression arrived. It was very, very big which worried us a bit an d we had to get across in front of it. It was delayed a little, which let us pass Cape Horn in reasonable conditions. And then just after the point we got hit by the first gust of 70kts. We broached but managed to bear off with three reefs and triple reefed main. We waited a bit to roll away the J3 and after that we just had the triple reefed main for about 10 hours in pretty insane, crazy seas, not so big but just powerful, winds at 50-55kts and gusts to 65kts.

"We found ourselves a bit jammed downwind with no alternative to sailing TWA 150 degrees, we could not luff without risking the boat. So we sailed downwind until the breeze backed and let us come up to pass east of Staten Island, which was the original plan. There we had very difficult seas. Now we are under gennaker.

"Two and a half days ago we contemplated turning round to avoid it. It was the perfect storm with a very low depression in the centre. Looking closely we judged we could pass it. But I confess that during the storm we looked at each other and said "This is a bullsh*t idea". Once you are in it there is little you can do to manage the situation. The boat did well under three reefs. The only worry was our dear autopilot might give up on us.

"After the Horn, when we hit 70 knots and the wind was consistently at 60, we sat it out, watching what was going on outside from time to time as we waited at the chart table, ready to adjust the autopilot if needed. These are the most stressful conditions I have seen in 25 years.

"We don't try to get ourselves into these situations. We had prepared the boat as best we could. We stacked the boat as best we could, we had our survival suits on and were ready psychologically."

"Afterwards, all was well. We had a good meal to celebrate, we were finally able to relax a little bit. I think all our nervous energy was released as we were super-tired last night, but we got some goo d rest in watches.

"Having been through these conditions it gives you a bit more additional experience to enable you to keep your cool in more extreme conditions. But it went well. We are not crazy and we had measured the risks."

Conrad Colman, Spirit of Hungary

"It feels a little lonely out here in the middle of the South Pacific, what with the rest of our fleet already around the Horn and the Volvo guys still tucked up in Auckland. For company we only have a monster depression centred south-east of us and directly on our route. At 2000 miles across and with a deep centre at 968 mb this is the real deal. We are broad reaching in a solid 40 knots with three reefs and the staysail, which feels pretty conservative, but when the 50 knot gusts roll through we wouldn't want anything more up!"

"When we round the Horn in a few days time it will be because we escaped, not because we conquered the craziest race course in the wo rld. We just passed underneath Point Nemo, the most isolated place on earth. Even the International Space Station is closer to land than we are, at only a few hundred kilometres up!"

• Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam cross the Equator at 2150hrs on March 9

• Cheminées Poujoulat sets the fastest IMOCA time from Cape Horn to Equator of just 12 days, 19 hours and 57 minutes

It has been a day of landmarks – both tangible and invisible - for the Barcelona World Race fleet.

For Jörg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane the landmark was very much a physical one, as Cape Horn presented the Renault Captur pair with one of the most fearsome Pacific Ocean farewells of any Barcelona World Race team.

The pair made their final approach to the tip of South America in 35-40 knot west-north-westerly winds, with severe gusts topping 60 knots. The German-French pairing benefitted from a relatively stable sea state as they rounded the Horn, although shortly afterwards conditions deteriorated with 8-metre wave heights and a very confused wave pattern.

Renault Captur passed the longitude of 67°17'35W at 11h48 UTC (12h48 in Barcelona, 08h39 in Chile), sailing just 2.5 miles off the coast of Tierra del Fuego, Chile. Renault Captur becomes the sixth team in the Barcelona World Race to pass the landmark. It was a fourth rounding for Frenchman Audigane, who celebrated his 47th birthday yesterday, whilst for his German co-skipper, 46, it was a first Horn crossing, a hugely significant moment for any ocean racer.

Speaking 24 hours before they approached the Horn, Audigane explained the difficult conditions they had forecast: "Is Cape Horn the road to hell? It could well be that for us. The tropical low to the north of Renault Captur, which has been following us since NZ is in the process of turning into a weather monster. It is running into the Andes, being forced back down south and deepening to 951mb to become a real hurricane.

"For us it's a race against the clock. If we're quick enough we'll get by just losing a few feathers with winds up to 45 to 50 knots and 7m high waves."

Previewing his fourth rounding of Horn, Audigane highlighted the importance of this legendary cape: "It is a mythical place for sailors. It was the most southerly waypoint in the maritime routes between New York and San Francisco, for instance. It is the third Cape of the round the world races, a quite particular place, with big depressions lining up, a wild place and quite hostile."

Renault Captur took 68 days, 23 hours and 47 minutes of racing to reach the southernmost Cape (after Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin) since the start from Barcelona on December 31st, 2014. They made a 48-hour technical pit stop into Wellington, NZ, leaving on February 23rd.

Speeding across the South Atlantic

Last night race leaders Cheminées Poujoulat crossed the Equator at 2150hrs (UTC), becoming the first IMOCA 60 to return to the northern hemisphere on the homeward bound North Atlantic leg.

Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam covered approximately 4,000 miles from the tip of South America to the latitude of 0 degrees in just 12 days, 19 hours and 57 minutes, the fastest cr ossing of the South Atlantic yet by an IMOCA 60 – in the last edition of the Barcelona World Race Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron on Virbac Paprec 3 took 15 days, 1 hour and 50 minutes, whilst in 2009 solo sailor Francois Gabart completed the same section of ocean in 13 days 19 hours and 21 minutes.

For Le Cam and Stamm, the rapid crossing represents a significant psychological step closer to home. With around 2,800 miles theoretically left to sail, the circumnavigation is far from over, but Le Cam explained that mentally, the final miles of the North Atlantic always seem to pass much more quickly than the equivalent miles of desolate Southern Ocean.

"I've never done a round the world so quickly, that's for sure already. Bernard has yes, because he did it with Orange II [the trimaran which set a Jules Verne record in 2005], which is something else entirely," commented Le Cam.

"We are already at the Equator and then it is always the same: when you have done a world tour and you arrive at Brazil, at the Equator, you have the impression that Europe is next door. When you travel from South Africa to Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, it is still large, long distances and then finally, when you're at the Equator and you see Europe there, just above, and you do routings, you realize that a fortnight later, you're there."

Tropics and thermals

Elsewhere in the fleet, Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos, second and third placed respectively, are in the trade winds zone and have seen their boat speeds gradually pick up over the course of the day to average 10 knots.

Fourth and fifth placed We Are Water and One Planet One Ocean Pharmaton remain closely matched – this morning both sailing at over 17 knots. Willy and Bruno Garcia on We Are Water are currently fastest in the fleet, clocking up a very respectable 370 miles in the past 24 hours.

"We have quite difficult and tough conditions at the moment," commented Fa, "Outside there is 38-48 knots of wind from the south-west, and we are making progress but it is really tough sailing. Big waves, very aggressive new waves, and a difficult life on board."

He and Conrad Colman anticipate arriving at Cape Horn in around five days' time, and are forecast to arrive with lighter winds and improved conditions. However, Fa, who has rounded Cape Horn three times previously, is not thinking about exiting the South – for this duo who have overcome so many obstacles the Southern Ocean could yet present them with a final challenge.

"I don't think about the end of the South because it's not the end. When we round Cape Horn we'll be near the end, but we're not there.

"Also after Cape Horn around the Falkland Islands can be tough conditions so not only until Cape Horn is passed but a couple of days after the Horn we'll also be deep in the South and they can be very tough. So I don't think about how it will end!"

Florence Arthaud

The entire Barcelona World Race organisation are deeply saddened by the tragedy occurred in Argentina today, and would like to extend their sincere condolences to the families and friends of the sailor Florence Arthaud and the nine other victims.

Skippers' quotes:

Jean Le Cam (Cheminées Poujoulat):

"It's all good here, it's going to be hot that's for sure, and there's a lot of mess but it's the Doldrums so that's okay. The wind is not yet very stable, that's the least we can say, but it will become more and more stable as we will find the trade winds from the north. The sea is full of Sargasso weed. And there are very special birds with a long beak, kingfisher-style for catching little green dorades. There are a few above us. It's a sign that there are dorades around and you have made it to the tropics.

"We started in the northern hemisphere and 90% of the course is in the southern hemisphere. But we live in the northern hemisphere, and the start is in the northern hemisphere, so this is a step, a step forward.

"It's nice to be able to stand up. Yesterday, we removed the protective 'bubble' as we were like little old men with their backs hunched over completely. It must be 1.20m below the cover, so we are permanently bent. To change position, and not have to cling on to stand as we move, is quite refreshing. And the boat is in good shape, no particular worries, we've already had them and we have got them almost sorted. It's good.

"I've never done a round the world so quickly, that's for sure alread y. Bernard has yes, because he did it with Orange II, which is something else entirely.

"We are already at the Equator and then it is always the same: when you have done a world tour and you arrive at Brazil, at the Equator, you have the impression that Europe is next door. When you travel from South Africa to Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, it is still large, long distances and then finally, when you're at the Equator and you see Europe there, just above, and you do routings, you realize that a fortnight later, you're there."

Nandor Fa, Spirit of Hungary

"We have quite difficult and tough conditions at the moment. Outside there is 38-48 knots of wind from the south-west, and we are making progress but it is really tough sailing. Big waves, very aggressive new waves, and a difficult life on board.

"Basically we are happy because we have good winds and good progress to the east at the moment, towards Cape Horn. But the co nditions are quite tough and we are fighting. We have of course small problems all the time in these conditions, but we solve these problems and right now we are sailing with 13-22 knots of speed. This is quite rough and the boat is moving very much, so the life is not easy on board. But anyway, we are ok!

"Right now we have big waves, and since more than a day – one or two days – we have strong-westerly winds and now we have about 4-5 metres of waves. Sometimes the boat lays down, and after this of course you have to keep going.

"If we can follow the weather forecast we would have the same winds for the next two or three days, and maybe a little bit lighter conditions closer to the Cape Horn.

"Fortunately our autopilot is working perfectly and we do not have to go out and hand-steer. It would be very difficult because outside is very cold, the water is very cold and the air also very cold – less than 10 degrees, and freezing cold . So if we are going out for sail changes or any kind of work half an hour is enough in these conditions.

"I feel now that [Cape Horn] is quite far away, about five days, but we expecting lighter winds and better conditions than we have now. But nothing is sure. In twodays or three days we will be able to see much more precisely what we can expect, but I say again as far as we can we can have nice, lighter conditions.

"I don't think about the end of the South because it's not the end. When we round Cape Horn we'll be near the end, but we're not there.

"Also after Cape Horn around the Falkland Islands can be tough conditions so not only until Cape Horn is passed but a couple of days after the Horn we'll also be deep in the South and they can be very tough. So I don't think about how it will end!"

Difficult Cape Horn early tomorrow for Renault Captur.Cheminees Poujoulat ready cross the Equator.We Are Water are fastest, east of Falklands

There is always a measure of relief in completing the passage of Cape Horn, escaping from the hostile Pacific into the Atlantic. But, come early Tuesday morning, it should be a especially pleased Jorg Reichers and Sébastien Audigane who bring sixth placed Renault Captur out of the Pacific and make the left turn, northwards for home.

Since leaving Wellington, NZ on February 23rd after their technical pit stop, the German-French duo have had to sail at reduced speeds because of a problem with their starboard rudder blade. But a rapidly deepening low is threatening to give them a very tough time at Cape Horn if they drop at all behind their current pace, or if the stormy low arrives ahead of forecast. It is due accelerate down the Andes and pick up strength. So theirs is a delicate race against time which will test their seamanship, and their nerves.

For Audigane, 47 today, it will be his fourth passage of Cape Horn and for Riechers it will be his first time. They were working hard today to make sure they and their boat are in the best possible state for the coming 36 hours. All things staying the same as forecast and if they can hold to their routing speed they should be in the lees of the land.

Audigane said: "For us it's a race against the clock. If we're quic k enough we'll get by just losing a few feathers"

Their fortunes contrast sharply with those of the race leaders Cheminées Poujoulat. Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam have just slowed down into the ITCZ, the Doldrums, but even so are due to pass across the Equator later this evening, back into their home, Northern Hemisphere. They have been in the south for eight weeks. Crossing the Doldrums should not be too testing for them, as the band of light winds is narrow and by tomorrow they should be comfortably into the NE'ly trade winds. There is no question of them dropping their guard down, explains the Swiss skipper in a message:"We have a big advance but we do not lose concentration or relax. Ahead of us there are still some areas where we could struggle and a mechanical problem just comes upon you suddenly and so vigilance prevails, the road is still long!"

Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos, second and third, have seen their E'ly breeze pick up a little and can c ontemplate more regular trade winds. Now that they are in the Atlantic the pace is fast for We Are Water and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton. Bruno and Willy Garcia have had the pedal down hard, racing east of the Falklands. They have been quickest of the fleet, although Spirit of Hungary - seventh - have been making a respectable 15kts, a welcome relief after three or four days in a mid Pacific 'Doldrums.'

Skippers Quotes:Jorg Riechers (GER) Renault Captur:"For the moment we are OK. We don't have that much wind, maybe 20kts, but what we have approaching us is not too cool. How can we approach a massive storm? You know what is going to happen, you prepare to take in the third reef, you do everything you can to secure everything, but you don't know what will happen in the end. It might be that we have 50-55kts of wind, with 10 metre seas. There is not much you can do to be prepared for that. We should get there for about 7 o'clock tomorrow morning. We will have 40kts from the north. We will be really happy to be out of there because the problem is not taht good with the rudder. It was really frightening sailing with this rudder system, doing quite a lot of Chinese gybes, you never know when. We will be really happy, really happy to have that finished. The rudder is stable as it was. On port tack everything is quite alright but on starboard at certain angl es it is really, really dangerous. We are tired. This is exhausting. When we have problems we get less sleep. It means more stress, less sleep. All the time you are getting more tired, sure."

Sébastien Audigane (Renault Captur):"We gybed a few hours ago and are heading NW just now. We will do one more and that wil take us to the Horn. And hopefully we will miss a serious gale. Winds of over 50kts will blow over the area. Normally we should get through with WNW winds, backing W. That will give us seas which are crossed coming from the west and north. Nice! But normally we should be OK. We should have 40kts, 45 to Staten Island. It's a bit like preparing for a battle here! We will prepare the boat and at the moment there is 16kts of wind which is OK, but we set the boat up to reef right down."" When we have things to do, we do them together. And the advantage of course, is when there is less wind then you can do two hours on and two hours off. When the wind picks up now, well we will be fully ready in our foul weather clothing, on standby."" We should be there in the morning, so around 0800hrs. Maybe a litle later. We are not going very fast at the moment. There is a little less wind than expected."" For me this is the fourth time around. It is such a mythical place to sail. Long time ago it was the the southernmost point of the shipping route from New York to San Francisco, for example. And of naturally it is the third of our three great Capes, on the course of the great round the world races. And the weather is special, big depressions passing through with very hostile seas. And for us it is about getting out of the southern oceans and into the Atlantic. For us that will do us good. The last few days have been hard, depression after depression."" We must get through this stormy bit and then we will see. The main objective is to manage the gales efficiently. The difficulty is close to the coas where the wind accelerates so much. The weather models don't necessarily recognise this. And so you can have ten to 15 knots more. It is all a bit delicate. We are looking forwards to getting out of here."

Jörg?" I think he is just the same. He is impatient. We are both looking fowards to getting through the gale. It is not fun. We have had our two nights with winds over 50kt and we had trouble with the autopilot then. So we feel we have had our dose of that, for sure. Anyway we can't wait to get through, we just have to manage it right."

Two more round Cape HornDreams realised for We Are Water and One Planet, One Ocean & PharmatonNeutrogena crosses outbound wake, closes circleRenault Captur less than 600 miles to Cape Horn

Powerful dreams came true, ambitions were realised when We Are Water and One, Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton rounded Cape Horn last night and very early this Sunday morning. The Garcias shared a unique moment as brothers, on We Are Water. Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa on One Planet, One Ocean reflected on sailing in the wake of so many famous sailors. But amidst all the excitement the fact remains that there is just 36 miles between the fourth and fifth placed boats of the Barcelona World Race and an exciting match race up the Atlantic is in prospect between the two, close friends as well as rivals

Willy, younger of the two brothers on We Are Water, smiled:" When I was young I read the all books of the master sailors like Knox-Johnston, the sailors that sailed around the world, and also sailors who sailed on the round the world races like the BOC, Vendée Globe and the Whitbread. Always Cape Horn was the very important passage of the route and so you always think ' One day I want to be there' ." But I never really thought that one day I would be here and sailing with my brother non stop from Barcelona, that is so important for me. It was a magnificent experience, a very, very important day in a sailor's life."

They went round Cape Horn at 2206hrs only 4hrs and 55mins later so did One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton. We Are Water went round 7 days 09hrs after GAES Centros Auditivos and 10 days 21hrs and 13 mins behind race leaders Cheiminées Poujoulat. Both enjoyed relatively benign conditions.

Gelabert, who worked as shore crew with Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella, said:" I can't really remember the first time I wanted to go to Cape Horn. I only remember that I was very young. I always wanted to do a round the world race. And so to do it of course you need to sail here, to Cape Horn. I have wanted to do it since I was quite young.Sailing round Cape Horn is really, really exciting. We have been very lucky with the weather conditions. It is very exciting and very emotional."

With the breeze north of west the two IMOCA 60s are being required to sail east of the Falklands. One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton - the former Kingfisher - were hard on the heels of We Are Water this afternoon, even still very slightly quicker than the brothers.Gelabert once again underlined their 'gentleman's' approach, almost apologetic for being so close to We Are Water:" We Are close to We Are Water but we are not always trying to catch them. We only try to sail fast but we have had really good conditions to be close to them. But I think they are doing a very good race. They only had two months to prepare for this race. I think if we thought two months ago they would be sailing at Cape Horn.......well I think they are doing a very good race."Race leaders Cheminées Pojoulat continue to enjoy pleasant, not too stressful 15kts trade winds at the head of the fleet, contemplating the first of their Doldrums in about 24 hours time.Neutrogena, Gullermo Altadill and José Munoz continue to outsmart the forecasts and make good speeds, nicely opening their gap ahead of third placed GAES Centros Auditivos. Altadill and Munoz crossed their outwards wake today.

Next to pass Cape Horn will be Renault Captur.Jorg Riechers and Seb Audigane were making excellent progress today, having racked up the biggest mileage of the fleet in the last 24hours. After three days of strong, stormy winds, their SW'ly breeze has eased back to 27-30kts. They are less than 600 miles to the Horn and made 375 miles in the last. And the outlook for Spirit of Hungary is very much better. They have averaged 12kts in the last 24hours and are now nearly half way between Bluff, wher e they pit-stopped, and Cape Horn.

Skippers quotes:

Willy Garcia (ESP) We Are Water:" When I was young I read the books of the master sailors like Knox-Johnston, the sailors that sailed around the world, and also sailors who sailed the around the world races like the BOC, Vendée Globe and the Whitbread, always Cape Horn was the very important passage of the route and so you always think one day I want to be there. But I never really thought that one day I would be here and sailing with my brother non stop from Barcelona, that is so important for me.

It was a magnificent experience, a very, very important day in a sailor's life. The first time is a very emotional experience and of course it marks the beginning of the way back home, we are going to have more windy and cold days before we are back in the north.We feel closer to home now, even it is only 200 or 300 miles closer, we feel much closer. It is nearly north and so every mile we do is a mile closer to home.

Do they appreciate how good a race they are making?No I think for our project, just being in the start is to be a success, We sailed step by step, each ocean we got a little better. And I think the last part of the Pacific is last gate we passed, but I don't think we realise or think about what we are doing. Maybe when the days roll on and we are close to the finish we will realise better.

How do you see the situation with One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton? They are close!I think we are going to have a nice match race in the South Atlantic, we don't have time to sleep on board! It is vey interesting and a real pleasure they are so close to us.

Weather and strategy?Now we will have NW winds 20-30kts the best way to pass the Falklands or the Malvinas is to the east and I think for the next 2-3 days we will make some nice miles to the finish."

Aleix Gelabert (ESP) One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton:I can't really remember the first time I wanted to go to Cape Horn. I only remember that I was very young. I always wanted to do a round the world race. And so to do it of course you need to sail here, to Cape Horn. But I cannot remember a date from when I wanted to sail to Cape Horn, but I have wanted to do it since I was quite young.

Sailing round Cape Horn is really, really exciting. We have been very lucky with the weather conditions. Before Cape Horn we had more wind and when we arrived there it dropped down a little bit. We had very good, quiet weather conditions. It is very exciting and very emotional.

Conditions...Falklands?Probably we will pass the Falklands (Malvinas) to the east. We need to do some work on strategy but in the coming days we will have plenty of wind from behind and so we will do some work this morning on what we will do finally.

Do they know what a good race they are doing?Not really but we receive a lot of emails which say how well we are sailing, we are doing a good job and so on. But, well, we just think we are sailing as best we can. We try to make the boat go as fast as possible, and we are not thinking whether we are doing a very good race or not. We do our best all the time. And I believe that if we do that then finally we will do a good race.Close to We Are Water?We Are close to We Are Water but we are not always trying to catch them. We only try to sail fast but we have had really good conditions to be close to them. But I think they are doing a very good race. They only had two months to prepare for this race. I think if we thought two months ago they would be sailing at Cape Horn, well I think they are doing a very good race.Compared to past races for the boat.

We know the timings of Ellen MacArthur and past editions of the Barcelona World Race for the boat and we try to sail as fast as possible, to beat these times, not because we want to beat the timings but only because we want to be sure that we are sailing fast and not lying around and not driving the boat properly.

Change from shore crew with Dee and Anna to skipper at Cape HornIt is a bit different. I prefer of course to be a skipper, but for me it is important to have been there four years ago. I learned so much about the IMOCA class and these boat. And to be with them was very, very exciting. I think to be sailing is much more fun and exciting.

By tomorrow, Sunday, morning there should be six Barcelona World Race boats in the Atlantic. Due this evening, around 1930hrs UTC, are the Garcia brothers Bruno and Willy on We Are Water. Some 132 miles astern are Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa who should pass the third of the classic course's three Great Capes at around 0200hrs Sunday morning.

For all four, each of them graduates from humble beginnings in the Mini Class, the rounding of Cape Horn will be the realisation of their dreams as sailors.

Both of the two Barcelona based IMOCA 60s are expected to have moderate to fresh, rather than frightening conditions. The complicating factor is likely to be the big, leftover seas. But as soon as they are safely round they should smooth out as the westerly breezes are broken by the South American landmass." For crossing cape Horn, with the meteo we have, the strategy is pretty clear: we'll go as close as we can, but not just too close to the cape, and then we will decide where to start climbing the Atlantic. said Aleix Gelabert on this afternoon's videoconference.

Atlantic AttackBut for all that they have the ultimate respect for their rivals in front - the Garcias are very much pioneers for the modern generation of Spanish solo and short handed ocean racers, like Anna Corbella, Gerard Marin, Alex Pella - Gelabert and Costa still plan an all out strategy in the Atlantic to try and beat We Are Water back to Barcelona and steal fourth place.

"Now in the Atlantic we might have a chance if we choose one option or another. If there is any chance, we will try. We know it is very difficult but we will certainly try. " said Costa today.

Gelabert is set to experience Cape Horn first hand, after working on the last race as 'preparateur' (shore-side technician) with Anna Corbella and Dee Caffari'sGAES Centros Auditivos in 2010-11. He admitted today that he has taken with him a can of Coke and Popcorn so that he can envision the Cape as if he were at the cinema.

Their challenge extends beyond racing. Costa and Gelabert are collaborating on numerous oceanographic research projects as they sail round the world. These form part of the agreement set out between the FNOB and the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC), whose motto is "One Planet, One Ocean".The boat and crew are acting as a platform for raising environmental awareness; unique witnesses of global climate change on the world's oceans. Gelabert from Blanes, Girona and Costa from Barcelona are a great example of the career trajectory were originally supported by GAES in a "Follow your Dreams" (Persigue tus Sueños) programme as well as by the FNOB.The Cape Horn experience will also offer a lifelong memory to be shared equally for the Garcia brothers who have been assured of massive support from their young families and professional colleagues as they have each taken a six month sabbatical from their professional careers.

LeadingLeading the fleet of the Barcelona World Race, Cheminées Poujoulat continue to reach in E'ly trade winds around 15-20 knots, thinking ahead now to their passage of the Doldrums which will start in about 48 hours time. Meantime Neutrogena, Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz, have gained miles again on Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin and now also lead by 132 miles. Renault Captur and Spirit of Hungary will be the remaining pair in the Pacific, JorgRiechers and Seb Audigane due to round on the 10th March, ironically only 24-48 hours ahead of 2011 when Audigane rounded on a stricken Groupe Bel and then had to retire into Ushuaia with keel damage on the 10th March four years ago.

Skippers quotesAnna Corbella (ESP) GAES Centros Auditivos:"Now we are sailing downwind with the big spinnaker with ten knots of wind. It is not going to be easy to have a strategy because now the conditions mean the wind is going to go to the front and nothing more. We are not going to have a lot of chances. But we have the Doldrums in front and probably there we will have some chances to do things, and I think that will our opportunity to catch them.We don't know really. Sometimes we are faster than them and sometimes not. We don't know if it is because of the boat or because maybe of the weather conditions are different. With one knot more wind these boats are much faster. A little different wind can make the boat much faster. We don't really know when we are faster than them.

Rest?We rest a lot and took our first shower yesterday. It was great. We eat, we rest and repair everything on the boat and now we are 100 per cent ready for the last part of the race.

Fix what?We have had some sails to fix. We had some problems with the engine, with the hydrognerator, many little problems, nothing really important but you have to do it. We had some broken sails and we had to repair the sails to be able to use them again. That is what we have been doing these recent days and now we are ready.

Aleix Gelabert (ESP) One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton:"We have 20kts from behind and the last hours we have been reaching in 40kts and so we had some tought conditions for the last few hours but now it is quieter. We are more relaxed and just focused on arriving at Cape Horn. We think we will arrive there in about 24hours, maybe a little less if we are lucky with the winds, but more or less in 24 hours. With the meteo we expect we will arrive close to the coast, not too close to the shore as it will be a lee, and then pass and after that the strategy starts really.Cape Horn for me is the most important Cape that a sailor can pass and for the last centuries it has been a very difficult place to pass here. Now it is still hard, very difficult because of the weather conditions, very dramatic. It is a true sailing icon.We will celebrate with a little different foods to other days, nothing really special. I have a special Coke and a bag of popcorn. For me it is like being in a movie, and I said OK how can I celebrate I will buy a bag of popcorn and pretend I am watching a movie in a cinema.The last days we have been catching We Are Water, it has been a little bit tough to do it, but when are in the same wind conditions they have proved that they are a little bit faster, they are very good sailors and their boat is a little bit faster than us, and so there is a possibility to be in different weather conditions. And we think that going up the Atlantic we might have an opportunity to catch them a bit, if we have different conditions. It will be really difficult but we will try and we have all the way to Barcelona to do it.

Saturday night should see two IMOCA 60 crews of the Barcelona World Race...

..reach Cape Horn ready enjoy the relase from the Pacific and start the climb up the Atlantic. Both of the Barcelona based duos of We Are Water and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton entered the Roaring 40s around January 27th as southern oceans rookies.

All four, Bruno and Willy Garcia from We Are Water and Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa on One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton knew the Atlantic, having all taken part in Mini class races to Brazil, but for each of them, this is their first round the world race. Passing the lonely cape, the most feared of all, will undoubtedly be the high point of their race so far, marking a huge accomplishment.On that January date, five weeks ago, We Are Water were over 420 miles ahead of the older, theoretically slower One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton. Tomorrow, some would say appropriately - given that all four are good friends and have been in touch by email along the course - they will round within hours of each other. Today they were just 114 miles apart with We Are Water still leading. For sure this duel will carry on into the Atlantic.Conditions should be good for their Cape Horn passage, the 25kts SSW'ly should veer to the W as they round, giving them both a good opportunity to reach quickly up to the Le Maire Straits and into more sheltered waters. As We Are Water pass the winds are forecast to drop back to about 18kts. Their biggest problem will be the sea state which will be very big and unruly, left over from a big low pressure which has just gone through.The Garcia brothers will be the first 'amateurs' - both are taking time away from very demanding, high stress careers - to round in this edition of the race.

At the front of the fleet Cheminées Poujoulat are making steady progress towards the equator which Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam should reach in about five days time. Stamm warned that though they have a good lead over second placed Neutrogena, the only way to avoid complacency was to remain completely focused on racing.

They may have time to make s ure they are both very well rested. That is not the case for Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos in second and third. They are just 78 miles apart in terms of distance to finish and there seems to be every chance this head-to-head can go on into the Northern Hemisphere at least!

Renault Captur still have the toughest, most demanding conditions. In sixth place they are in a robust, active low pressure system, having diverted well to the north to avoid the worst of the strong winds. That said they will still be seeing gusts well over 40kts. Jorg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane are just at 1100 miles to Cape Horn. By way of contrast, 1800 miles behind, Spirit of Hungary still have very, very light winds and have been making only 4 to 5 kts today.

Hugo Boss co-skipper, Pepe Ribes speaking in his native Barcelona today, gave his clear view on the ice exclusion zone which has been employed on this race, in place of ice gates:" I liked the decision before the race to change to the 'wall' and I think we have wait for the opinions of the skippers, but from outside for me I think the race is shorter and better, and we have seen there is more chance to find your way tactically. You dont have to come north to pass a gate. Obviously in a fleet which is so spread someone will be on the right side of a low and some will be in a high pressure. At some stage in such a spread out fleet someone will have light winds. So for me the idea is very good and I hope they keep it for other races. From the outside it makes it easier for the sailors. For me it is not reduce the strategic options, it is gates which reduce the strategic options because you have a point to sail to every thousand miles, or every 1500 miles . Now there is just a barrier and that is more open for me."

Skippers Quotes:Bernard Stamm (SUI) Cheminées Poujoulat:"Program on board? Housework, DIY, tanning?"(Laughs ...) Tanning, we try to avoid it! You end up suntanned anyway. Yesterday there was house keeping to do, actually. We were able to shower, shave, so it was pretty good. It's a bit cleaner inside the boat.But otherwise, there is a lot of non-stop work to make the boat go well. There is not much wind; and if we do not push then it doesn't happen. And we rest....but we do not go in the sun to tan, that's for sure! »And the race?"Inevitably, it lacks a little spice ... But it is a race and it's not over, we hve to push on and stay vigilant. We look behind to see their conditions and in front there are still blocking areas. We need to make sure we are still pushing, pressing on. The danger is thinking we just need to get home and finish. That would be it, it would be a big mistake. "

After a spell last night and today during which almost all of the Barcelona World Race fleet were in light or moderate winds, in the Atlantic and the Pacific, it looks more like Transition Time is ringing for many. The exception to the calls of 'It's Not Normally Like This Here' was Jorg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane on Renault Captur who were 'motoring' across the Pacific at their statutory, speed limited 15-16kts, riding a fairly typical low pressure.

NEWS MAR 5, 2015 17:55The regime of reaching and downwind sailing was rudely interrupted for a few hours for Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam on Cheminées Poujoulat. The race leaders, just north of the latitude of Rio, will transition tonight into the more regular SE'ly tradewinds. They are now sailing the reciprocal course of the Transatlantic races that they have done many times in their career and that will enhance their feeling of returning home. Indeed Le Cam won the Transat Jacques Vabre into Brazil's Itajai 16 months ago, and both have been several times to Salvador de Bahia which they will pass Saturday. And from now until the Doldrums the leaders will enjoy a regular, if bouncy, ride north.

Also in transiton are Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos. Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz are on the cusp of breaking into NW'lies which will back into the SW to give Neutrogena a welcome fast ride in reaching and downwind conditions. Having done 48 hours penance in light, fickle and frustrating winds generated by the high pressure, as a new low builds from Uruguay the second and third placed boats can take full advantage.

Munoz is enjoying his race with the vastly experienced Altadill, often mentioning the lessons and learning he has derived from his Spanish co-skipper. But the Chilean said today he is missing the Pacific. The chilly waters and winds feel much more like home, he admitted, and - just a little - he is wrestling with the notion that while Altadill is heading home, he is sailing away from home! Asked today if he was enjoying sailing away from the south, he said:"Not so much, because that's my home, even when it was quite cold it felt like home. Now the weather starts to get warmer (laughs). It is another type of sailing; something completely different. In the South there are always many different things, high pressure, low pressure, anticyclone... and how they form themselves on the sea. It is a little extreme, but you can also choose how to deal with it. We have a good boat and I have a very good skipper so we are looking for the best route to move fast and make the best of our position that we can all the way to Barcelona."

In the Pacific, We Are Water and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton are approaching Cape Horn and both have taken a little northing now. AleixGelabert and Didac Costa continue to drive the ex Kingfisher hard and effectively and are now just 107 miles direct line distance behind Bruno and WillyGarcia. We Are Water are 750 miles from Cape Horn.Renault Captur have the strongest breeze of the fleet right now. They can have mixed feelings. On the one hand they are gybing every 50 or 60 miles because they are downwind and so at last half the time their damaged rudder is not so stressed, but that is also especially labour intensive. The strong breezes are allowing them to catch miles on the two in front but at 550 miles they are still out of touch meantime.

A change is due too for Spirit of Hungary where the Pacific has been more like summer on Nandor Fa's native Lake Balaton. Clear blue skies, 10-12kts of breeze and an easy routine means he and Conrad Colman are getting maximum sleep, ready for the resumption of strong winds at the weekend.

Skippers Quotes:Conrad Colman (NZL) Spirit of Hungary:" The race sailed away for us a long time ago so there is no point in getting upset about the situation. So we are sailing as best we can with what we have. That is pretty much all we can do a the moment. We are enjoying being at sea at the moment. We have incredibly clear skies thanks to high pressure. We have beautiful moon which is like a super strong spotlight on us and so we can wander around, we can almost read books it is so strong with the full moon. We are not going very fast but it is certainly a great place to be at sea now."Seb Audigane (FRA) Renault Captur:"We are doing it on Renault Captur. We are under reefed mainsail and J3 and the seas are very very big There are 25 and 35 knots wind which is not that much, but in these seas it is hard going. Besides, this morning we had a small problem, but it's there all the time really. But then it will go a bit because we jibe soon at the exclusion zone. But then it's not great as the wind has turned to the west, so now we will be forced to make small legs of 50 miles each, downwind from here, heading to ... Cape Horn."

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, March 5 – Damian Foxall (IRL), one of the biggest names in offshore sailing, is joining Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) for the forthcoming treacherous Leg 5.

Caudrelier and Foxall were on the Groupama boat that won the 2011-12 edition. The Irishman was the natural choice when Dongfeng's skipper looked for an experienced sailor to bolster his line-up for the 6,776-nautical mile (nm) stage from Auckland to Itajaí, Brazil, through the Southern Ocean and round Cape Horn.

Foxall, who has competed in four previous Volvo Ocean Races, arrived in Auckland fresh from victory in the EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour (SATT), sailing with the renowned French sailor, Sidney Gavignet.

He said on Thursday that he was thrilled to link up again with Caudrelier, who has guided his China-backed team to joint top of the current race standings.

"I am delighted to be back 'in the saddle'. This will be the 10th round-the-world event that I will be involved in and my eighth rounding of Cape Horn," he said.

"It is a privilege to have the opportunity to join Charles and the boys onboard Dongfeng who have been doing such an exemplary job. My role is to fit in as seamlessly as possible and to bring the benefit of a fresh person to the team.

"It is hard to overstate the difficulty of the Volvo Ocean Race for the sailors and teams, the longest sporting event in any sport, and it is exactly this, the duration, that makes it so hard. A planned rotation of the crew at key times has become a crucial part of any successful team's strategy."

Caudrelier agrees. "This leg is going to be a tough, freezing cold, with big seas and strong winds – only the toughest sailors can endure it," he said.

Foxall could not be joining the race at a more challenging time. The first three boats finished the 5,264nm Leg 4 within just over eight minutes of each other after 20 days at sea with MAPFRE (Xabi Fernández/ESP) becoming the fourth team to win a leg.

Dongfeng Race Team won the second leg into their home port of Sanya from Abu Dhabi in January.

Foxall will replace Thomas Rouxel (FRA) on this leg, continuing the crew rotation programme set by Caudrelier to ensure his eight-man crew are fighting fit and bringing fresh energy into the team.

Navigator, Pascal Bidégorry (FRA), is back and will undoubtedly find the Southern Ocean leg less painful than being rested on land as he was for Leg 4. Caudrelier has yet to confirm which of his Chinese sailors will sail in the forthcoming stage.

The crew will be announced next week for the leg, which sets off on Sunday, March 15.

Under 5000 miles to the finish line for the leadersCheminees Poujoulat cross their outwards wakeAll stable on Renault Captur

Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam passed under 5,000 miles to the Barcelona World Race finish line and today also crossed over their own outbound track. The leading duo are starting to feel like the worst of the course is very much behind them. Both skippers have, individually, suffered more than their fair share of ill luck over their careers. Now, if it is not good luck that is running with them it is certainly at least good timing.

Having been pressed east around the big high pressure system in the South Atlantic they have continued to have downwind and broad reaching conditions, making 16,3kts today. But as daytime temperatures rise to become much more acceptable Stamm and Le Cam seem set to gain steadily on their nearest rivals, Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos.

Were it not that it proved to be stuck then there might have been some ceremony yesterday when the leaders tried to slide forwards the protective canopy which protects much of their cockpit space from the sluicing southern ocean waters and driving winds. After a little persuasion they can now enjoy the full 'al fresco' experience, rather than huddling under its shelter. And as the canopy rolls back, so too it seems like the weather door may close on their rivals. It is probable that as a new high pressure builds off the South American coast that Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos will lo se more time agains the Swiss-French duo.

Neutrogena,Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz have actually been making distance on the leaders, reducing their deficit by a further 30 miles in the last 24 hours. They may now be 970 miles behind the leading duo, but their route north now appears blocked by a zone of high pressure and winds of just 5-8kts. In contrast Cheminées Poujoulat will be into slightly stronger, more settled E'lies allowing them a due north course to the Equator.

Predictably, the race statistics so far show in favour of Cheminées Poujoulat. Until today they have sailed 21,080 Nms on the water, averaging 14.6kts. They hold the highest 24hrs run at 482.8 Nms on 11th Feburary, the highest 4 hours speed gun average at 21.1kts on that same date. They have lead continuiously since 16th January. Their lead was biggest at 1249 Nms on 26th Feburary. And they are on course for the biggest win in the history of the race.

Stamm said today:" It feels good to change things a bit. We pushed back the protective cover for the first time yesterday. It was a bit stuck and we had a bit of a job pushing it back, but it's nice now to be able to manoeuvre standing up rather than crouched down under it. When we trim the headsails, we can see them now. That changes things. The speeds are different and the situation has changed."" What's happening is that with the lead we have, we can't control anything. We're sailing our own route with the weather we get. The high we have just passed was something we had been keeping an eye on since before Cape Horn. We were afraid that it would stop us getting through and that by having to move off to the east, the door would be wide open behind us. But that isn't the case, and it seems to have favoured us."" The high was moving. The fear was that it would remain there, but it's moving again. It's possible that the door will slam shut again."

For the 'three Pacific musketeers' approaching Cape Horn - We Are Water, One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton and Renault Captur, conditions remain favourable. But Jorg Riechers and Seb Audigane in sixth are in front of a big low, getting 30-35kts of NW'ly winds right now, and there is a big low forming off the coast of Chile which will leave beh ind very big seas as they arrive at Cape Horn at the weekend. We Are Water have just over 1000 miles to make to the Horn.

Renault Captur are having to moderate their speeds so they do not pressurize their starboard rudder too much, but they have still been making steady miles under double reefed main and J3 headsail. Reichers reported today:" For the moment it is OK. We have the J3 and two reefs and that is easy enough. It is OK. We had the J2 and the J1 yesterday and we had some scary moments. So we decided to take it a little easier because where we are here you really do not want to have any problems."" For the moment the problem with the rudder, which was delaminated and damaged south of New Zealand, is that when it was repaired it was done so without a mould and so with the shape it has it might be a few millimetres out of the range of the original rudder and that creates a lot of pressure on the blade. We think that is the source of the problem."

Skippers quotes:Jorg Riechers (GER) Renault Captur:"If we did not have this rudder issue it would be a glamour becasue the boat is going quite well, and Seb and I are going really well, so the manouevres are alright and so life is really good. But knowing we have this rudder issue is like having the sword of Damocles always over us all the time. It gives us a certain amount of stress.

If their future is solo, what have they learned?" For the Vendée we are thinking about sails, for example, and what works. So probably in theory what you want in the south is this jib top reacher, the Michel Desjoyeaux thing. And the deck layout, you want to be really, really well protected and the boat is easy to work. And also the shape of the hull, where to accelerate, how much rocker it needs to have to surf out of the water at the right moment. When we have time we discuss the perfect boat for the Vendée Globe and then discuss it with the designer, and so it is a good loop."" And all of the time, even if we have these issues, I am super happy I am doing this race. The result is not too glamourous at the moment but it is absolutely worthwhile."

Bernard Stamm (SUI) Cheminées Poujoulat:Life on board:" It's been less than 24 hours since we got out of the strong winds and we had quite a lot of maintenance to do aboard the boat, and that took some time. The wind is still with us and we haven't been stopped so far. Now, we've learnt how to walk around again. We can stand up inside the boat and the temperatures are rising, making it pleasant."

Tiredness and little injuries" It's clear we're feeling tired. We've got a few little injuries. Jean's rib is hurting and he feels the pain with every movement. If you go up the mast, you feel sore all over. It builds up over time and it stays with you until you get close to the finish. I think we have lost some weight, but it's hard to judge. We think more about the boat than ourselves. We're going to start to remove some layers of clothing soon and we'll see what's underneath. We may be in for a few surprises..."

As Cheminées Poujoulat climbed north out of the latitudes of the Roaring 40s and into a regime change on the east side of the South Atlantic high pressure system, Barcelona World Race leaders Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam are into relatively stable, quick downwind conditions which will allow them to make good miles north, ultimately to connect with the trade winds.

After being dragged well to the east Stamm and Le Cam are now able to make more direct, easy miles north.

This Monday afternoon Cheminées Poujoulat had slowed in the light downwind conditions but the Swiss-French duo will see the wind move to the south east, allowing them a better, faster angle. By Tuesday they will have 20-25kts from the ESE although as the High moves east and south they will have lighter airs by Wednesday. But in the meantime Stamm and Le Cam have had light airs and were only making 6.4kts, racing at the latitude of Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz on Neutrogena have been catching miles today, dropping their deficit to Cheminées Poujoulat back below 1000 miles today, thanks to their good reaching speeds in 20-25kts of NW'ly breeze. But they, too, are due to encounter high pressure, a system building from the Argentinian coast. The last 24 hours have been good for the Neutrogena duo who have also made 95 miles on GAES Centros Auditivos in the last 24 hours. Spanish duo Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín have been through the lee of the Falkland Islands but are into clear air now, are due east of the islands, and now pacing their arch-rivals Neutrogena albeit now 204 miles behind.

We Are Water'sBruno Garcia may have spoken today about the complexity of their weather outlook for their 1600 miles to Cape Horn but the Barcelona brothers have been flying over the lat 24 hours. Riding the top of a low pressure they made 404 miles to this morning, but Spirit of Hungary - Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman - have pipped them with a 415 miles day.We Are Water are still forecast to be at Cape Horn this weekend, reckoned to be early Saturday morning with One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton later in the day.

Renault Captur have been making steady speeds in the 14.5 to 16.5kts range, suggesting they are managing their rudder problems just now.

And the high day's run for Spirit of Hungary signifies their best 24 hours yet in the Pacific. Conrad Colman was today delighted to have posted an 18.5kts average overnight."Our average speed for the past 10 hours has been 18.4 knots and by the time we fall offthe back of this front we will have eaten a quarter of the Pacific in one long weekend! It would be nice to have another boat close by to have a comparison for this excellent progress because typically only the front runners have been able to get averages over 18."Doctor on Call.This Monday Dr Belén Gualis, the Medical Director of the Barcelona World Race and Director and Coordinator of the BWR Ocean Campus Medicine course visited Race HQ and spoke to some of the skippers.

Dr Gaulis was one of the Hospital Quirón Teknon doctors who designed and delivered the Medicine at Sea briefing for the skippers, designed the medical kit which is carried on each of the IMOCA 60s, and developed the BWR Ocean Campus medicine course.

Of their pre race training for the skippers Doctor Gualis explained: " We make a theoretical and practical in one day. And in that day we resume everything that can happen on a boat. The theory is about basic cardio- vascular medicine, and surgery and how to prepare an injection, bandage and how to suture. That is all very practical. And we have seen that it can be used on the race, like Conrad and Nandor."She spoke with Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman on Spirit of Hungary and, on the videoconfernece, was able to inspect Fa's head laceration which Colman had stitched prior to arriving in Bluff last week. He took the stitches out today.

Of the interventions that the race team doctors have had to help deal with she said:" We have had a few calls, just for small issues, dermatitis, tendonitis, headaches, flu, all are resolved"Speaking of the medical kit which was developed for the race she said:" The medical kit is very easy to manage. The skippers who have used it, like Conrad and Bruno, have not had any problems. They can use it with no problems, I am happy."" At the hospital Teknon we have a team of six doctors who are on call and a 24/7 alert. We have developed a system of videoconferences, email and satellite phone, so that there is a team always ready and prepared to attend to a critical situation. There are intensive care specialists. We make a medical course before the race started just to prepare the sailors to manage with common situations, like a bang on the head, fracture or wounds - taking care of them or suturing. The course is very important."

Skippers quotes:

Bruno Garcia (ESP) We Are Water:"We are at about 115 to 113 of longitude so we are say 1600 miles from Caoe Horn but the approach is going to be a bit difficult. There will be many lows and we don't really know what they wil l be doing in these coming days. I think we will be crossing a little bit to he north but the situation will be quite difficult and tactical situation to but probably we will have enough wind."

Conrad Colman (NZL) Spirit of Hungary:" It is nice to be back at sea and going this fast, starting this stage with a bang. Thankfuly we have had an ideal re-start. We were absolutely exhausted. To go from skipper to shore crew and back again is hard. We did not get much sleep and in two and a half days I only got one shower. We were focused on the boat, not creature comforts. And then we had one night which was quite light at the start and then the reaching conditions have been building. we have been going absolutely flat out, going in an easterly direction and so we have been making miles and so it has been the perfect re-start.At the moment we have 32kts from the NW and we are broad reaching and as you will have seen we have just averaged 18.5kts all night which is awesome and our fastest run to date, so we are feeling good. We should eat our way through one quarter of the Pacific in essentially one long weekend. And so it is good work. After that the picture becomes more complicated.

Sixty Days at Sea: Atlantic opens up for the fleetDifferent options imposedRenault Captur slowed

After the limits of the southern oceans imposed by the combination of the weather systems and the safety barrier of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone, the Atlantic is opening up for the top trio of the Barcelona World Race.

On this 60th day of racing since leaving Barcelona on a warm, sunny winter's afternoon, 1300hrs local time Wednesday 31st December, each of the top three are dealing with their own different options.Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam are working strong W and SW'lies. But with the dominant high pressure to their west and moving east off the South American coast they are riding the top corner of a Roaring 40s' low. The combination is pressing them ever further east.Later this Sunday evening their breeze will drop away until they gybe tomorrow into the stronger downwind flow. While the Swiss-French duo had lost over 100 miles to the chasing pair, Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos who were both fast coming into Cape Horn, the net gain today is back to Cheminées Poujoulat, returning their advantage above 1000 miles again today.

Neutrogena, in second, are heading west of north. Sailing upwind, they have tacked this morning and again early this afternoon and are making a steady 9.6kts, just NW of the Falkland Islands. Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz are set to have light upwind conditions right through to morrow and so that deficit to the leader will increase

Having been as close as five miles apart in the south Pacific, now Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín are 150 miles due south of rivals Neutrogena. And the Falkland Islands are driving a wedge between the two Farr designed boats. GAES Centros Auditivos are going east of the island group, trying to stay with the stronger wind pressure.

Eighteen hundred miles of the Pacific, or about five to six days racing, stand between the Garcia brothers Bruno and Willy Garcia on We Are Water and their ever first Cape Horn passage. They are set to be the race's first Cape Horn first timers. They are 194 miles ahead of One Planet, One Ocean &Pharmaton and the brothers have sailed the fastest in the last 24 hours with an average of 17.1 knots and 413.2 miles traveled.

The chances for Renault Captur to be on their coat tails by the left turn at Cape Hor n seemed to have diminished since Jorg Riechers and SébastienAudigane have slowed as they seek a solution to their rudder problems which seem to be an ongoing source of stress.

"It can be a concept or an adjustment problem from the beginning. We could do nothing about it before because we knew nothing about it. We are really cautious not to break the other rudder, because where we are now we don't want to have any breakages." said Riechers today, " We have rudder problems again. On starbord tack it is unsteerable. That is why we are so slow at the moment. When we gybed, the rudders were always stalling to the point of broaching. The only solution was hoisting the J3 and sailing with two reefs in the mainsail. That is really, really slow. We have to wait for daylight to find a solution."

Rest has been part of the main agenda for Nandor Fa and who were very tired when they left Bluff, NZ after a very inten se but fruitful technical pit stop. But now Spirit of Hungary are making 16kts in 20-25kts of N'ly winds.

The climb back up the Atlantic is long and can be brutally hard, but usually every mile feels like it is taking you closer to the Barcelona World Race finish. Race leaders Cheminées Poujoulat might be forgiven for feeling that supposition does not fit with their moods today as they are now slanted more east than north, each mile seemingly taking them more directly towards Cape Town than Barcelona, but for the two teams who rounded Cape Horn today, the 'homewards bound' epithet really held true.

At 0212hrs UTC this morning it was Gullermo Altadill and Jose Munoz who passed 20 miles south of the lonely rock in second place on Neutrogena, some ten hours ahead of third placed Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin on GAES Centros Auditivos.

Neutrogena, in particular had looked set to benefit from being able to sail the most direct course north while Corbella and Marin, who passed Cape Horn at 1232hrs UTC this afternoon, were addressing the dilemma of whether to go west or east of the Falklands . Conseqently Altadill and Munoz were able to snip.

Altadill and Munoz, passing the Cape in the dark, found the Horn baring its teeth, delivering big crossed seas and gusts to nearly 50kts. Altadill, contacted briefly by satphone this morning said:

" It was quite tough rounding Cape Horn, it was quite windy with squalls over 45kts up to 50kts and really big waves, more than predicted. W e thought we would only get 35kts and normal waves, but in fact we got huge waves. We had to make a couple of gybes which were in the middle of the night and so that was a bit complicated, so no we are gaining north. Now we are setting up to pass the Le Maire Straits which is another complicated place, still windy, still a couple of gybes to go and a lot current, it saves a lot of miles but it is quite complicated. The last 24 hours have been full on and for the next couple of days we get some SW and W wind so that will be good because we can gain north pretty quick. And then, unfortunately, N'ly winds which mean upwind. At least the next couple of days we can get north straight away."

It proved a red letter day for the Altadill clan. Guillermo was crossing Cape Horn for the seventh time, lying second in the Barcelona World Race while his son Willy, was part of the MAPFRE crew which won Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race into Auckland today, rec ording the first stage win for the Spanish boat at the end of the first leg sailed for Altadill junior.

After having had to make three gybes during the last 130 miles Corbella and Marin passed in daylight, just six miles off. For both it is their second time, after successful passages in the last edition. Corbella is 11 days quicker this time than with Dee Caffari - significantly faster even though the course is 2000 miles shorter for the removal Cook Strait from the 2014-15 route - and at this point in the 2010-11 race Marín had only just arrived in Wellington to pit stop with co-skipper Ludovic Aglaor (FRA).

Marín today said: " The feeling that now the worst has passed is, as Bernard (Stamm) said, not true. We have a very complicated week ahead but for the emotional side things do start to feel they are easier now. But once you get past Horn you head home. You know that every day there are fewer miles towards B arcelona and this motivates you a lot. We will have a lot of upwind now, but right now we're pretty ecstatic".

Corbella added:" I am delighted. We feel very, very happy. As the last time when we passed it is such a very important place to be, it means a lot of things. I think crossing Cape Horn is like making the summit of a mountain and now we can go home, but a part of our dream is done. Now we have to finish the race, and get home, but a part of it is already done.

Asked if she feels safer now that GAES Centros Auditivos is out the Big South she said:" It is different. We will see because anything can happen, as we see with Cheminées Poujoulat. They have some big problems sailing in a big gale in the Atlantic but normally things are going to be easier now, especially with the cold. The cold makes everything difficult. And now this is going to change very quickly. And we are happy for that. Also we are closer to land, it is not like being in the middle of nothing. It is quite different. And the other thing is that every mile we sail now is a mile getting closer to home. Mentally that means a not. We have a feeling we are heading home and every mile is in the direction home. That means a lot."

The next boats to Cape Horn are previewed to pass from the 7th March, with We Are Water leading One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton by 176 miles. In turn Renault Captur are 538 miles behind One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton. Jorg Riechers and Seb Audigane on the sixth placed Renault Captur have been the quickest boat in the fleet, knocking 60 miles off their deficit to Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa.

If, in the end, the Pacific gave up race leaders Cheminées Poujoulat...

without too much of a fight and since Wednesday morning the Atlantic, in turn, has opened its fastest toll-free lane north east to Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam, the Pacific seems rather more keen to hold on to second and third placed Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos. Renault Captur in sixth has been deflected back to the North East by headwinds as they pursue We Are Water and One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton. Both of the Barcelona IMOCA 60s have been in light breezes, windstrengths more usual for summer in their native Mediterranean than the south Pacific.

Stamm and Le Cam have added a further 120 mils to their lead since thy rounded Cape Horn, sliding rapidly past the Falklands and this afternoon morning making 19 kts. And today both Alex Thomson (GBR) runner up in the first edition, and double winner Jean Pierre Dick (FRA) voiced their admiration of the race sailed so far by the experienced Swiss-French duo."We really did not know how Bernard and Jean would go together, but they seem to form an incredible crew." Dick, who is building a new IMOCA 60 right now, commented, "I wish you good luck and take care not to break anything. I say that, of course, with the voice of experience. There are often surprises in the last part."Jean Pierre of course, makes reference to his 2012-2013 Vendée Globe when he lost third place on the podium when his keel fell off, blade and bulb, less than 3000 miles from the finish line, already 500 miles NW of the Azores. He had lead the solo, non stop race around the world six times and had to give up third to Thomson.

The Atlantic has been good so far for Stamm and Le Cam. The Pacific is in an awkward, out of sorts mood for Neutrogena - formerly Thomson's Hugo Boss - and GAES Centros Auditivos. They are less than 600 miles from Cape Horn but in moderate breezes, set to pick up, but averaging around 15kts boat speed.With 83 miles between them are due at Cape Horn Saturday monrning and late afternoonEven if the race of Hugo Boss ended for Alex Thomson and Pepe Ribes (ESP) on the night of January 14th with their dismasting, both skippers still follow the race avidly. Thomson, whose racing stable 5 Degrees West owns and runs the IMOCA 60 which races as Neutrogena, still communicates every few days with his good friend, colleague and past co-skipper Altadill with whom he finished second in the 2011 Transat Jacques Vabre.Empathising with the 'race bubble world' that the Catalan is locked into for three months, Thomson - in Barcelona yesterday - remarked that he simply emails Altadill with lightweight chat about his life on land, preparing his new IMOCA 60 and extra curricular topics rather than anything to do with the race.He admitted that Altadill would be his first pick as co-skipper for this year's Transat Jacques Vabre on the new Hugo Boss."I tell Guillermo what I am doing every day, some stories. I think when you're on the boat you're always focused on the race, what's going on, immersed in it and to have a moments of distraction from the life of someone else, I think is interesting. "

Will two become three again?Jorg Riechers and Sebastien Audigane are focused entirely on regaining the fourth place they relinquished because of their technical pit stop in Wellington. While Riechers said today that if they could achieve that goal it would feel like winning, Audigane remarked:"The aim is to get as close as possible before Cape Horn. And then we are looking at match of three. The goal is to finish before both of them. "

Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman have their jobs list all but completed in Bluff NZ, and the Spirit of Hungary skipper seemed to confirmed they plan to leave Friday evening (local time). Today at 2250hrs this evening UTC will mark 48 hours since they halted for their it stop.

Skippers Quotes:

Nandor Fa (HUN) Spirit of Hungary:"We have had a very busy day. We did a lot of jobs, what we wanted to do. We finished the mast, lifted the boat and changed the keel bolts and made a very nice job. We had a good help from the local people and now the boat is back in the water, the boat is perfect, the keel is perfect. It does not leak and not a drop of water comes in. Now we have some jobs on the mainsail, some patches and small details. We finish tomorrow morning, we have an issue with the engine and have to change the Fleet Broadband cable, the cable was broken. So that is tomorrow morning. In the afternoon we buy some fresh things. And in the evening we are going to start some time, not sure exactly what time. We have got all the jobs done, the quality is good. I am really happy with the boat and we go back and sail.We have a small team, me, Conrad and Conrad's uncle, Gray. Today we had some help from some local people, from the crane driver and a forklift. We working day and night. We are a very, very good shore team.We made a full check, bow to the stern. There was no problems with the fairings. There was some chafing on the keel from the fishing nets. So it is all very positive."

Aleix Gelabert (ESP) One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton: " We are enjoying the race a lot. We don't have a special secret. The only thing is that we are so happy to be doing the race and we are very happy to be sailing in these conditions with an IMOCA in the South. We are very happy to be here.We cannot do a lot at the moment because we are in the middle of a calm. The low pressure is coming to us and we have to wait really. The low will give us some easterly winds for a few hours, so we will be upwind then the wind will go to the back and we will have to wait for the low pressure. I don't think it is a very strong low pressure.To catch We Are Water would be really difficult. The last few days we have caught miles on them because we had better conditions than them, but our two boats are different. Their boat should be faster with the same conditions, it would difficult to catch them and then to maintain a distance. We make every effort but it would be really difficult.We usually do a three hours on and then have three hours and this is usual. We sleep but we eat, donwload the forecasts and do our scientific projects, we do it like that."

Jorge Riechers (GER) Renault Captur:"We hope to have a three boat race in the Atlantic. At the moment we are five or six hundred miles behind but we hope we can close the gap a bit by Cape Horn. So we will see what happens with the low pressure system we are dealing with right now. Probably they will have less winds than we have right now. We have upwind conditions, that is not really super for us, but our whole motivation right now is to regain our fourth place. We are racing ahrd and watching the other boats, like we are racing for victory. Coming fourth would be, for us, like coming first. First place is being taken anyway by my old boat. We are fully motivated and we continue racing hard." A good distance at Cape Horn would be ten miles ahead, that would be best for us! But if we were 100 or 150 miles at Cape Horn and then anything is possible. We hope to close the gap before Cape Horn. 100 to 150 miles would leave a lot of opportunities for tactical options. "

With Cheminées Poujoulat making good progress up the Atlantic, making close to 18kts, 120 miles SW of the Falklands, Cape Horn marks the frontier between the two different worlds inhabited by skippers on the Barcelona World Race.

All but two pairs, the bookends of the fleet, are still awaiting their release from the Big South, the relentless grey, chilly, damp world. For Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam, bows of Cheminées Poujoulat pointed NE, there is the added vigour of knowing every mile north is a mile closer to sunshine and tradewinds, a mile closer to Barcelona, and a mile away from their Southern Oceans escapades. And for seventh placed Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman in Bluff, South Island NZ, there is an unfortunate but not unpleasant technical pitstop as they make repairs to ensure a less troublesome second half of their race.

Cheminées Poujoulat had a reasonable passage across the border last night, under the cover of darkness. They crossed into the Atlantic passing 14 miles south of Rock at 00:53 UTC, after 55 days 12 hours and 53 minutes of racing. This afternoon Stamm and Le Cam passed the Strait of Le Maire, between Tierra del Fu ego and Staten Island, and their next choice is which side to leave the Falklands. So far the windward, west side looks better and a shorter route.

Tensions remain high between second and third. But by virtue of better, stronger breezes Guillermo Altadill and José Muñoz have progressively driven a bigger and bigger wedge between themselves and third placed Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín. The GAES Centros Auditivos pair have found themselves - rather incongruously - upwind in moderate breezes and so losing miles to Neutrogena. From being within five miles at the start of the week, they are now 115 miles astern of second place.

"I think we've gone faster [than the Neutrogena] most of the time" Corbella said today, " But there have been times when they escaped because we slowed down for technical reasons. We just try and hold on for a good fight in the Atlantic, to try and stay relatively close."For Renault Captur, now back at 48 deg S and targeting the Furious 50s again, there is finally the prospect of pulling miles back on fifth and fourth, One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton, and We Are Water:

The delta between the two Barcelona boats, One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton and We Are Water has now shrunk from 600 miles to 160 in a week. And with the possibility of Renault Captur progressively getting back to them both, an interesting three cornered fight might just be on the cards for their ascent of the Atlantic.Making their pit stop in the country of birth of Conrad Colman, one might have hoped for a more hospitable welcome for Kiwi Colman and his Hungarian counterpart Nandor Fa. But the duo had driving rain, winds over 50kts, and chilly, wet conditions for their final approach. Spirit of Hungary tied up yesterday at 22:50 UTC at the port of Bluff, on the South Island of New Zealand.

Their list of repairs is longer than expected, having discovered on the way in that they needed to replace a couple of keel bolts.

"We're fine, but there is much work to do," said Fa. "We had a good dinner and we will relax a little. Tomorrow we lift the boat out of the water to change the keel bolts, but basically things go as we expected "Unscheduled and unwanted their pit stop may be but Colman, is delighted to be briefly in his home country:

" To come into a dairy and see the familiar sights and sounds, to see magazines and chocolates of my childhood it is fantastic to be back in New Zealand. I have never been here, and it is funny to have to sail half way around the world to discover a new part of my own country, but it is great. We discovered the problems with the keelbolts after we decided to stop. We were chasing a couple of leaks and decided to re-torque the nuts on the keelbolts and unfortunately one have way in our hands. We were already heading in to New Zealand so that made us feel good about our stopover and also quite thankful.

" We are not shooting for the podium and Nandor and I, as since the beginning of the race, we have a long term vision of where we want to be with our careers, what we want from this race. I am trying to establish myself in my career and Nandor is counting every mile as a precious one. So he wants to do them all. So given that, we would be foolish to rush out of here and compromise for the sake of a few extra hours.

Skippers quotes:

Renault Captur, from email:"Today, we're back in the fifties. The albatrosses have found us again and are offering their support by flying over the boat, calmly without flapping their wings. Since we set off again, we have been focusing on getting around a low-pressure area blocking our path. Reaching in moderate winds, it all seems to be working out for the moment, and as the hours go by, we have made up a little of the time. We shall be sailing quite close to the centre of this low and beyond that, Renault Capture will be able to dive downwind chasing after the Water Brothers (We are Water) and their compatriots on One Planet one Ocean. Everything is fine on board and we are feeling fairly quiet in between trimming, navigating and looking at the weather. It isn't that cold yet, so it's fairly pleasant sailing for the time being. Well done to Jean and Bernard, who rounded Cape Horn some distance ahead making them well placed to achieve overall victory." ;

Anna Corbella (ESP) GAES Centros Auditivos: " I am excited about my second crossing of Cape Horn. I want to be there right now, and I think it is important, we want to begin to go north and point the bow in the direction of home that is something we have been looking forwards to for many days now.The conditions at the moment are that we are in a transition zone between two fronts, and at the moment we are sailing upwind with ten knots of wind with flat water, so it quite a strange situation sailing towards Cape Horn right now, strange, but in a few hours it will change the NW wind will come again. And it will increase. I think we are going to cross the Cape in typical conditions - probably 30kts - and we are happy with that because it should be the last windy situation in the south and we are happy to sail these last days."

Nandor Fa (HUN) Spirit of Hungary:"Our relationship gets deeper and deeper. On the one side we are a sailing partnership we are in one team and we think of ourselves as a team. In any aspect at all we help each other. On the human side there is respect also. I guess at the moment we are a better team than at the start. We have had surgery before (Colman had to put four stitches in Fa's head).......I needed a bandage before and so that has been a good exercise for Conrad (jokes) but he is really talented to do it (stitch) like a sailmaker, making much nicer stitches in my head than a doctor. "" When we start again we will be pushing the boat, it will feel like racing, of course we will be a long way from the fleet, hopeless to think of catching up, but at least the performance is important to us and from that point of view we race against the most difficult rivals, ourselves and so we push to our limits, we should be satisfied and proud."

Barcelona World Race leaders Bernard Stamm (SUI) and Jean Le Cam (FRA) returned to the Atlantic at 01:00hrs UTC this Wednesday, after traversing the South Indian and Pacific Oceans

Cheminées Poujoulat, which has lead the two handed round the world race for 39 days, has passed Cape Horn (67°15 11 W) at 01:00 UTC (02:00 Barcelona time, 22:00 Chilean time).

In so doing Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam complete their passage through the inhospitable waters of the 'Big South', effectively rounding Antarctica, to start their ascent of the Atlantic to return back to Barcelona, from where they set sail on 31 December 2014.

The leading boat of the Barcelona World Race has covered the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the Indian and the Pacific in 55 days and 13 hours. In so doing Stamm and Le Cam have covered 16,400 nautical miles of the theoretical course (23,300nm) and so they have 6,900 more left to finish the race.

As they passed the legendary cape, the southern tip of the American continent, Cheminées Poujoulat were sailing under Westerly wind (25 knots) and rough seas. Stamm and Le Cam will still face typical Big South c onditions for some five or six days until they clear the Roaring 40s, climbing the Atlantic.

Even though the skippers were both passing this milestone for the fifth time each, it remains one of the most crucial and exciting moments of the round the world race, not only because on the unique challenges imposed by strong winds and big seas but it marks the 'beginning of the end' of the hard Big South conditions.

"We've been sailing for a month, more than a month, five weeks, with high conditions of wind and seas, and cold", Le Cam explained. "Now we will turn left, to the North and towards more pleasant temperatures, so in general it is good when you cross it", the Frenchman commented.

"We feel like we reached a very important passage which allows us to go north again", said Stamm in turn. "Besides, it is a special passage, full of history. It is all of these things at the same time", he conclud ed.

The Chilean Navy has one of the biggest maritime areas in the world under its protection, including Cape Horn. The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre coordinates rescue operations in the area, and has reinforced the safety and security as the Barcelona World Race fleet makes their respective passages of Cape Horn, one of the most dangerous maritime passages on the planet. On station are a patrol boat with 24 seamen and six officers, along with a helicopter and two rescue divers.

The passage of Cape Horn of the second and third boats, Guillermo Altadill and José Muñoz on Neutrogena and Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin on GAES Centros Auditivos, is expected between Friday and Saturday.

Within hours of each other Spirit of Hungary were finally forced to bow to the inescapable truth that they have to pitstop into Invercargill, South Island NZ and Renault Captur have left Wellington NZ after completing their own pit-stop.

The Spirit of Hungary duo Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman had made every possible effort to repair or remove their damaged, stuck mainsail slide. Between them they have climbed to the damaged car five times over the last three days, trying at all costs to avoid a pitstop which it seems will almost certainly lose them their best chance of catching Renault Captur. But the news came during last night that Fa and Colman are re-routing towards Invercargill where Kiwi Colman's friends and family will do all they can to assist a smooth turnaround. In his blog this morning Colman seemed to indicate that their stop should be no more than the 24 hours minimum required by the Barcelona World Race rules.

At 0500hrs UTC this morning, just when Spirit of Hungary had 550 miles to sail to Invercargill - due to arrive around mid morning to mid afternoon Tuesday - the 30 hours pit stop of Jorg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane ended in Wellington. With their starboard rudder repaired by local composite specialist Matt Gottard of MG Composites (ex Hakes Marine who built Dee Caffari's IMOCA 60 Aviva), keel sorted and their J2 headsail fixed, Renault Captur was facing light winds to start with but should get into 20-25kts downwind to get their race back on track. But from challenging for third, or maybe even second, the German-French partnership are down to sixth and have a 614 miles mountain to climb if they are to catch One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton. With just under half of the race course left they have a fighting chance of achieving that.

"It was good. " Said Riechers of their pit stop. " We solved the rudder problem and are happy to be back on the seas. We will see what happens and how we can get back into it. At the moment it is difficult to say, it is hard to say what is happening with the winds. There is a low pressure coming down so we will see how that works."" We had a really, really good team over there who are fixing everything, the rudder was Matt Gotthard (MG Composites) who organised the pitstop. We had the J2 repaired which needed minor repairs. We cleaned the boat which is full of diesel after we had some bad broaches. Apart from that we had a look at the boat and verified the boat a lot."

" We had a nice shower, some good food. It was brilliant." Reichers added, " It is bad to lose places, we feel bad about that, but there is nothing we can do. We try to get back in the race, do our best to get back the places which were lost. We lost 2000 miles."

Cheminées Poujoulat are lining up their approach to Cape Horn with 530 miles to go this Monday afternoon. Barcelona World Race leaders Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam have a lead of 1063 miles ahead of Neutrogena and were making a solid 16-17kts of boat speed today in a 17-20kts breeze from almost due south. They are racing at the same latitude as Cape Horn, 55 deg S, but will rise a little more north before setting course for their rounding Tuesday afternoon.

Guillermo Altadill and José Muñoz have extended their lead over Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín to just on 60 miles this afternoon. The Neutrogena pair have the increasing benefit of better, stronger winds that their rivals who are behind the leading edge of the front, in more unsettled breezes and messed up seas. Chilean Muñoz is looking forwards most to Cape Horn. He recalled today that when he passed in 2008-9 friends and family were out to greet them.

In fourth and fifth respectively, the delta between We Are Water and their pursuers One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton is still shrinking. It is now down to 209 miles with Alex Gelabert and Didac Costa making almost three knots quicker than the Garcia brothers on We Are Water. The fourth placed boat is sailing more downwind in slightly lighter pressure and so having to gybe.

Skippers quotes:José Muñoz (CHI) Neutrogena:How do you feel sailing home?Right now I'm feeling quite good. We are in the middle of the ocean, very close to my country and I'm very happy. At this time we have completed half of the race. We had had some issues but we fixed them all. Now we are waiting to pass the mythical Cape Horn, the most southern and inhospitable Cape, but right now it is all quite OK.How does it feel the change from being the chaser to being chased?These are opposite circumstances. The good part of it is that we are always battling, always competing in a race. Our boat is always racing at 100% and even a little bit more at times. We are not focused on who is in front or who is behind. We only try to go as fast as possible. Unfortunately, we had to pit stop in New Zealand. But what it is really important is that we compete and that the boat is always sailing at 100%.

Would you try to go faster to win more miles or this is a game of patience?We are always trying to go as fast as we can, getting everything we can from the boat and we try to go at 110%. Hopefully we can go faster to reach and surpass other boat and reaching the finish as soon as possible.Do you remember the first time you sailed Cape Horn?We are experiencing something mythical. You can't just sail round it as many times as you want. Obviously, I tried sometimes to round it and I haven't always achieved that due to the weather conditions at this southern cape. The first time I was lucky enough to do it in a Class 40, with my friend Felipe Cubillos, who unfortunately is not with us anymore. It was something big and very emotional. Even more, the Chilean Navy helped us and some of our friends came to welcome us and see us pass. It was very emotional because, as I say, for a sailor that's unique. It fills you with joy for being there.

Cheminées Poujoulat 800 miles to Cape Horn. Extreme conditions for them during the next hours.Neutrogena vs GAES Centros Auditivos. Ten miles between them.Renault Captur docked Saturday 23hrsOne Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton now is 5th.Spirit of Hungary trying to avoid a pitstop

Legend has it that over 31 days during 1788 the HMS Bounty of Captain Bligh made just 85 miles while attempting fruitlessly to round Cape Horn. If they round Cape Horn as expected on Tuesday 24th February, Barcelona World Race leaders Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam will have taken 31 days to race from the longitude of Cape of Good Hope to the most feared of all Capes. They passed Good Hope on 24th January at 20:20hrs UTC. and those who like the fearful symmetries of IMOCA Round the World Racing might not be too far wrong to stab at a 24th March finish into Barcelona!

Such speeds from Cheminées Pojoulat, indicate that harmony prevails and that there has not even been a mutinous whisper between the two vastly experienced co-skippers, Stamm and Le Cam. The duo, who have six racing circumnavigations between them, were just over 800 miles from the Cape this afternoon and conditions, though robust, look set for a favourable, well earned release from the clutches of the Pacific. Compared with the Indian, the Pacific has been tough but fair to the Swiss-French pair

Of course both will share their relief on Tuesday. Perhaps more so though for Le Cam. He has been back on the last Vendèe Globe, exorcising the ghosts of 2009 when he was trapped for 16 hours inside his upturned VM Materiaux 200 miles west of Cape Horn and had to be rescued.

With a big lead, 1172 miles this afternoon, perhaps the duo will take advantage of a day time rounding to get closer in and enjoy their passage.

Race Director Jacques Caraes confirms the top duo can expect reasonable conditions but which will not disappoint:" Cheminées Poujoulat are in a NWly wind which is close to 35kts and it will move W and the SW, dropping a little as they approach Cape Horn on Tuesday. The sun will be up at 0400hrs and so they will have a passage by day, 25-28kts. At 100 after Cape Horn they will have ideal conditions the SW veering W so they can make the Le Maire Straits on their Great Circle route making it the shortest route between the E coast of Tierra del Fuego and Staten Island where they have restored the 'lighthouse at the end of the world' "

The Chilean Navy and MRCC have responsibilty for the area and work closely with Race Direction:

"The Chilean MRCC area begins at 131 deg W. And so Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam have been in it for a couple of days now and received a welcome message from the MRCC. And we are in contact all the time with the M RCCs, alerting them when boats arrive and leave from their area." Caraes concludes

The horns of a dilemmaSeventh placed Nandor Fa admitted that he and co-skipper Conrad Colman may be on the horns of dilemma tomorrow. To pit stop or not? After both co-skippers have been up the mast to try and release a jammed, broken halyard lock slide, veteran Fa confirmed it will be Monday morning when they know if they will have to pitstop into New Zealand to get a replacement part. Ironically the race's only Kiwi, Colman, will have one last attempt to free the damaged slide in the morning or he may end up with a very much unwanted pitstop in his home country. Nevertheless, having reached the midpoint of their southern oceans, and now nearly racing in the Pacific, Fa was on good form this morning when he spoke with Race Control in Barcelona:

" We have had five very full days because we are fighting with the problems we have, especially on the mast, the halyard lock was broken again. It is not enought to be broken again. In fact it is stuck on the track. I was up the mast and I tried to fix it. Conrad went up and could not either. Tomorrow morning we will try again. If it is impossible to fix we will make a decision what to do. But, not now."

Fa continued: " It is the only problem. It is safe. I could double that (the halyard) but it is strong and the mainsail is OK. All the sails are OK. We slowed down a little bit with the work the whole days, when we were working. When the wind comes again we will speed up again. That is the situation at the moment and we are very very happy. On one side we are happy to be in the Pacific Ocean, on the other side we have passed the half way point our calculation says we are over half way in the south. We are happy. But the unneccessary and unreasonable fight takes a lot out of evergy from both of us."

But part of the dilemma will be to lose out on the possibility of passing Renault Captur which pit stopped into Well ington last night at 2304hrs UTC last night Saturday. Jorg Reichers and Sébastien Audigane were expecting to be out and going again in Monday. Correspondingly One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton are up to fifth, Renault Captue sixth:

Fa, 61 years old, replied: " On the one side that is exciting and challenging, on the other we have to solve our problem somehow. And if we can solve it on the sea then good, but if we have to go to New Zealand then we are also losing. At the moment we don't know the answer."

What about the pit-stop when do you decide?" Tomorrow morning we make a decision. We make another try with the slide, if if can be moved and we can take it off then that is good. We can keep going. If it is stuck and we cant use the slide then we have to go to shore and somehow solve the problem there. Conrad wanted to try again last evening and couldn't and just now it is dark, it is impossible it wet and dark and cold. Tomorrow morning we try again we will make the decision."

What about the boat, are you happy with it?" I am absolutely happy with the boat. Herself she performs very well, fast, reliable which is important the tracking stability and high speed, at modern than 20kts and close to 20kt averages we were secure and I enjoyed it very much. So far we have only one Chinese gybe, that was in light winds and was accidental. In strong winds the boat behaves like I expected. I am really happy with it. It is hard to judge against the other boats but it is very similar to the others. I am happy but unfortunately we cannot push the way would like to, because of the technical problems and issues, too much time lost because of the consequence of these issues. We lost some meteo because of that. But basically the boat herself is vry close to what I wanted to have and so I am happy with it."

Compared with his past Vendée Globes 19 and 23 years ago how is this race and the IMOCA 60 scene now?" Life has changed very much. In my time before it was much more adventure, very different to this professional sailing right now. There is no mercy, if you make a small mistake immediately the others are penalising. In my time before the differences were much bigger between boat and boat, the differences were bigger between the skippers, there was a completely different way, different mentality, it was more friendly and now it is much more professional, less friendly but I can tell you that I am enjoying very much this time. It is also quite far, close to the limit and very tough, but very enjoyable."

The duel between GAES Centros Auditivos and second placed Neutrogena sees Gullermo Altadill and José Munoz sees them separated by just 10 miles.

As Renault Captur approach Wellington, We Are Water go fourthPit lane clock will be running for Riechers and Audigane to make good rudder repairGAES Centros Auditivos in the Neutrogena rear view mirrorCheminees Poujoulat arc south and east to Cape HornMainsail track slider jam for Spirit of Hungary, another climb for Colman

Renault Captur were approaching Wellington NZ this Saturday afternoon ready to set in motion their plan to repair their damaged starboard rudder blade. With 60 miles to go, sailing upwind in a short, choppy sea at the eastern entrance to the Cook Strait, Jorg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane confirmed once again that they aim to be finished their technical pit stop and on their way during Monday.

"We are calm and determined to stay in the race." they said as they prepared to make their New Zealand landfall.

The misfortune of Riechers and Audigane, who had been fourth since leaving the Mediterranean, has been to the immediate benefit of Bruno and WillyGarcia on We Are Water. On this morning's 0500hrs ranking they were credited with fourth place and at around 1400hrs UTC this afternoon the Barcelona brothers passed the actual longitude of the unfortunate Renault Captur, now 690 miles to their north. So We Are Water have now taken a solid fourth place on the rankings, 714 miles behind GAES Centros Auditivos. And with One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton about one normal day's racing miles behind, there seems every chance that Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa will rise to fifth place on Sunday. The clock will be ticking for Riechers and Audigane as soon as they reach the dock.

Anna Corbella, co-skipper of GAES Centros Auditivos, appeared to play down su ggestions that just because she and Gerard Marín are so close to Neutrogena that they would inherently push harder to pass their rivals. She confirmed that keeping themselves and the boat safe is much more important than any possible short term gain. That said they are all but looming in Netrogena's rear view mirror, tracking the wake of Guillermo Altadill and JoséMunoz, only nine miles behind this afternoon and still, seemingly just a fraction quicker than the Spanish-Chilean duo. Corbella confirmed in Catalan once again that their AIS is not working so they could not track Neutrogena minute by minute.

"Every day we are closer to Neutrogena and are very happy. I think the boat which has less problems will be in front. It is difficult to have more speed here when you have to take care of the boat and all the material. It is not easy to push the boats hard when we have to take care not to break things to exit thi s Pacific Ocean in good shape and to really begin the battle in the Atlantic. "

Life remains tough for Spirit of Hungary. After having to climb the mast in 30-40kts of breeze to get the mainsail down because a slider car had partially disintegrated and jammed, Conrad Colman explained that he will still need to climb the mast to recover the slide and to then evaluate its state and usefulness. Another system can be set up, but a stop in New Zealand for a spare is not being discounted. As such that would be a tough call, given that if they did not they would pass the longitude of Wellington on Tuesday with a fighting chance of passing Renault Captur too.

The only problem for Cheminées Poujoulat seems to be the strong winds and big seas. Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam, the leaders are making 13kts carving the start of the long arc south and east to Cape Horn 1220 miles ahead of them. Indeed tonight they will be closer to the n otorious Cape and the exit of the Pacific than their nearest challengers, Neutrogena, are to them.

Skippers quotes:

Anna Corbella ESP GAES Centros Auditivos:" We feel very happy. We are satisfied with our speed and performance. Every day we are closer to Neutrogena and are very happy. I think the boat which has less problems will be in front. It is difficult to have more speed here when you have to take care of the boat and all the material. It is not easy to push the boats hard when we have to take care not to break things to exit this Pacific Ocean in good shape and to really begin the battle in the Atlantic.For the moment the boat is good, we don't have any major problems, we have little things that we are following to see what happens, but for the moment we are OK, but you never know. You see what happens with other boats which have problems and they come suddenly so you never know. One day you are OK the next day you have a problem with the rudder or something. We have to take care and take care of the boat.We a feel a little bit isolated. We have a lack of information of everything compared to being at home. You feel it. You need to know things. We are like in another world. We ask our family and friends to send us information about what is happening in the world.We have emailed some of the other Spanish boats, not a lot, maybe when they cross a Cape or something in Spanish. We are more or less in the same situation so it is nice to chat.For me I prefer to overtake a boat rather than to be be trying to avoid being overtaken. It is easier for me. I prefer to be in second trying to catch first!"

Aleix Gelabert (ESP) One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton:" We are very happy because this week we have been doing a lot of miles and we have been catching We Are Water. We have had very good conditions for this. We had strong winds but not too much and in these conditions we can push the boat but not too much. So we are very happy." For the next few days we have a forecast for about 15-20kts more or less, for the next two or thre days passing New Zealand. We just concetrating on just doing as much miles as possible going towards Cape Horn. So our next goal is Cape Horn." The boat is in perfect condition. We don't have any problems at all. We are in the Pacific Ocean with the best conditions for the boat, and we are well rested and so we don't have any excuses about ouselves and the boat."" We have done half of the race. For me that has felt quite short and so I expect the next 50 days more it will feel short because every mile is approaching home. Cape Horn first and then approaching home, so I hope the next miles pass as quick."

Cheminees Poujoulat flying solo Mid PacificJust 33 miles between Neutrogena and GAES Centros AuditivosOne Planet One Ocean fastest in fleet, gaining on We Are WaterRenault Captur heading for Wellington NZ

If Neutrogena skipper Guillermo Altadill is worried about the advancing GAES Centros Auditivos he was masking it well today when he spoke live to Barcelona World Race HQ. But more likely his measured composure and focus is partly because he has simply stuck to their 'blinkers on' strategy of not looking or worrying about the movements of their rivals since they restarted from Bluff, South Island New Zealand.

The head-to-head between the two very similar Farr designed IMOCA 60s, second placed Neutrogena and challangers GAES Centros Auditivos, gets tighter by the hour. Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín have eroded a further 12 miles from Neutrogena's margin since this morning and - straight line distance - there are now only about 33 miles between the two boats. As they scribe a saw tooth course downwind along the edge of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone, Neutrogena gybing every two to four hours, GAES Centros Auditivos are making 16.6kts to Neutrogena's 11.9kts and Corbella and Marín have managed to make one gybe fewer than their rivals.

"It is hard when you come back and see you have lost a lot of miles, "Altadill reported today, " especially when it was not easy to get back into the race because the high was on our track. So we decided not to worry about the rest of the fleet. So we don't see the results, I don't watch where they are. I have a rough idea. I know Renault are out of their race at the moment to repair their rudder but we are not worried about the others, not checking positions, checking the fleet."" We concentrate on our speed and trying to do our best with the wind and the race."

Flying soloRace leaders Cheminées Poujoulat are flying solo in the middle of the Pacific, right in the middle. They passed into Chilean waters last night, in one of the loneliest and most isolated points on the Barcelona World Race course. Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam are less than 2000 miles to Cape Horn now and have lead of 1130 miles on Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos. The Swiss-French 'machine' is back at full operation making between 18 and 20kts today in winds which are forecast to be gusting to 40kts today.

Renault Captur have confirmed that they are heading to Wellington, New Zealand to make their rudder repair pit-stop. Jorge Riechers and SébastienAudigane said today that they hope the repair will take less than 48 hours - ideally between 24 and 36 hours. They expect to arrive in Wellington on Saturday where they will be met by their technical team and boatbuilding experts. Riec hers seemed to indicate that the problem was with the shape of replacement carbon shoe which they had to fit over their broken blade.

"We are in contact with boatbuilders there to repair the damaged rudder. That should be possible and to give it a decent shape. The problem was the replacement shoe which we put on, the profile is not really good. As soon as you are surfing it is violently trying to luff or bear away in waves. When you are steering in conditions when the boat does more than 22kts the boat is ripping you off your steering position, the tiller takes you with it. And Seb and I are both more than 80 kilos, we physcially could not hold the tiller. You don't go to Cape Horn like that, if you get 7 metre waves it will destroy everything." said Riechers today.

Catching!The more modest pace of fifth placed We Are Water, sailing in the lighter winds of a high pressure zone for three days now, is costing Bruno and WillyGarcia miles to sixth positioned One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton. The chasing boat of Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa, the oldest IMOCA 60 in the fleet, have been the quickest boat on the fleet - even faster than Stamm and Le Cam - averaging 19.2kts. As a consequence of being nearly five knots quicker than We Are Water,Gelabert and Costa are now 426 miles behind, gaining 363 miles since Monday.

Skippers Quotes:Jorg Riechers (GER) Renault Captur:"We are OK. The boat is fine we have good conditions and the rudder does not cause us any troubles. It is really light now, we have 9 knots of wind and are doing 6-7kts so it is a long road to Wellington.It is like at first after we broke the rudder and repaired, put the replacement on, we thought OK we are still in contention for third place, we can push the boat, etcetera etcetera, then discovering it was no working and hat we had to continue under reduced sail area, we could not be competitive, we had to continue the course and hold our fourth place easily with our 1200 miles advantage over We Are Water, now getting to know we have to go to New Zealand to repair, it really a series of different blows, and it feels like this kills the race for us. Now it is like a race against time, and saving what can be saved, but it is whole new challenge. Finishing a round the world race is something you want to acheive.We are going to Wellington. That is where the best repair facilities are. At the point we turned the routing said it was the fastest point to go to New Zealand and there too because that is the best place to find good boat builders. The best place to repair the rudder is Auckland but it is too far north. So it has to be North Island, on the South Island there is not very much.

We are in contact with boatbuilders there to repair the damaged rudder. That should be possible and to give it a decent shape. The problem was the replacement shoe which you put on, the profile is not really good. As soon as you are surfing it is violently trying to luff or bear away in waves. When you are steering in conditions when the boat does more than 22kts the boat is ripping you off your steering position, the tiller takes you with it. And Seb and I are both more than 80 kilos, we physcially could not hold the tiller. You don't go to Cape Horn like that, if you get 7 metre waves it will destroy everything.So we hope that we can do the repair in between 30 and 48 hours. Normally we will arrive Saturday during the day and then have Sunday and early Monday to repair. And we hope we can leave Wellington 8am to 10am European Time Monday. Monday evening NZ time.

If we can do the repair in 24 to 30 hours we still have a chance to regain our fourth place which we would be really happy with. And I think if we leave Monday 8am French time we still get chance of staying fifth. That is our new goal, our only motivation to stay in the race. If not you are cruising and that is not our intention.I think the problem with the keel is easy to solve, something we can do in a couple of hours. We think it is a problem with the hydraulics which makes a strange noise. We dont know with the rudder if we hit something, if we did it is would be good because then there would be a good explanation. Or it was just delaminating because it is old. That is really bad because the other one is the same age. That is what is worrying us. The night the rudder was damaged we did not sense any shock at all. That is strange. That gives a little bit of worry. But then it is always a little bit like that in life, isn't it. Maybe it was damaged before the p roblem with the rudder just before the Cape Verde when the rudder was lifting automatically. When it lifts up it can be bad for the rudder, so maybe the rudders take a tough moment then. We just don't know."

Guillermo Altadill (ESP), Neutrogena:"When we had to detour to New Zealand to get the engine system sorted it is hard when you come back and see you have lost a lot of miles, especially when it was not easy to get back into the race because the high was on our track. So we decided not to worry about the rest of the fleet. So we dont see the results, I dont watch where they are. I have a rough idea where they are. I know Renault are out of their race at the moment to repair their rudder but we are not worried about the others, not checking positions, the fleet. We concentrate on our speed and trying to do our best with the wind and the race.It looks like the wind will be softer for the next few hours and then we have to make some gybes close to the exclusion zone, then it will shift to the north, light, then westerlies again. For the last few days we have had to gybe with he westerlies, and it looks like that except for the next few hours of a straight line, it will be westerlies. So we are just following the squalls last night, we were gybing on the squalls to get the best wind, and for the next few days it will be the same, sailing close to the exclusion zone as well. Now the exclusion zone is angled more north and so that is where we are very close and gybing, then it will be more straight line so it will be a bit easier, but at the moment it goes north (east) for a few hours.It was hard getting back into it. It was 24 hours with very light winds, you keep losign miles. It is hard when you were hours behind the first boats and three days ahead of the next and then you come back in the race, the o ther boats are three days ahead. That si why I say 'don't worry about that' The hardest thing is to stop racing."

With fourth placed Renault Captur having made the tough decision this morning to head back towards New Zealand to effect a repair on their damaged starboard rudder blade, the battle for second place in the Barcelona World Race becomes more of a match race in the Pacific, a head to head between incumbents Neutrogena - Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz - and third placed Anna Corbella and Gerard Marìn.

The two IMOCA 60s are separated by just 76 miles this Wednesday afternoon, the chasing Spanish pair Corbella and Marin, sailing slightly faster than Altadill and Munoz in the 25kts SWly breeze. Neutrogena are converging with the Antarctic exclusion zone and will be forced to gybe NE first. As the ice safety zone then stretches NE then the two crews will be required to make several gybes over the next 300 miles.

At the front of the fleet, mid-Pacific 1060 miles ahead of Neutrogena, Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam have been forced to reduce speeds because of the big, confused seas and the very shifty, changeable breeze. Winds have gusted between 13 and 35 with 30 degree shifts in direction making it especially difficult to set a suitable sail plan.

"There is a lot of wind and big seas." Cheminees Poujoulat's Bernard Stamm told Barcelona Race HQ today, " It is impossible to go fast here because we are stopped by the waves. We are trying to go forwards but it is not easy. It is a little better now but there are big seas seas and not so much wind as we were near the middle of the depression and so that is why we are slowed."

Cheminées Poujoulat are making a modest 15kts boatspeed this afternoon and winds were expected to increase with gusts to 48kts this afternoon and tonight. The Indian Ocean was good to Cheminées Poujoulat but the Pacific is being a tough taskmaster right now. The duo have 2200 miles to sail to Cape Horn and are expected there late on 24th February.OpportunitySuch is the cruel nature of ocean racing that one crew's misfortune is an opportunity knocking for another. With Riechers and Audigane diverting back towards to New Zealand, the door to fourth place is opening for the Garcia brothers, Bruno and Willy, racing We Are Water the boat which was fourth as Estrella Damm in the last edition of the race. The Renault Captur team have not specified where they are heading yet, but best case is a two and a half to four day passage, closer to four if they choose Wellington. But We Are Water are about two days racing from the longitude of South Island New Zealand and so their thoughts must be turning to taking over fourth place.

We Are Water's Barcelona brothers are buoyed by leaving the Indian Ocean behind and moving into the Pacific, whilst Cape Leeuwin is the big landmark for Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman on Spirit of Hungary. They crossed the longitude of Cape Leeuwin last night at 2257hrs UTC, taking 48 days 10hrs 57 mins since leaving Barcelona. They are 2 days 2 hours behind One Planet One Ocean Pharmaton and 11 days 07 hours behind Chemineés Poujoulat.

Skippers quotes:

Sébastien Audigane (FRA) Renault Captur: " Unfortunately downwind Renault Captur can not longer be controlled in the waves. The helm is extremely heavy and the boat veers left and right, broaching or luffing up. We have to reduce sail and drop our speeds, the boat not so flat and we are having to work hard at the helm."" In addition to the rudder problem, we also have a recurring problem with our keel and yesterday, in addition to the lack of stability of the boat, we had to work for 3 hours to set up the keel after the gybe, with the invaluable help of Bruno [Behuret, Renault Captur technical team) on the phone (he did not get much sleep that last night).After discussion with the technical team, we had to face the facts, for the safety of the boat and us, we have decided to head for New Zealand where will reach in about three days. During this time we are investigating solutions to rebuild the starboard rudder. We do not abandon the race we will try to fix it.

" It is clear that this decision is difficult to make, but it is a question of our safety and that of the boat. With my past experiences in these seas and on different boats, it would be unwise to continue with a boat without reliable steering.

We know that in the Pacific Ocean rescue is very difficult or non-existent; We do not want to find ourselves stuck in trouble at Cape Horn, on port with a faulty rudder in a big seas. We also don't want to risk breaking the other rudder because it undergoes similar loads in these conditions.We both have family, a team, a sponsor and a racing organization who support us in our adventure but we do not take take unnecessary risks. We are going to protect ourselves and in the meantime think about how to fix this."

Bernard Stamm (SUI) Cheminées Poujoulat:Different from other round the world races?" It is a little bit. Mainly because we are two up. We take turns and that is good. And the weather has been even, windy from the start of the Pacific. It is pretty weird. It looks a bit like it usually does but with bigger seas. I think there is a bit of difference because we are oten resricted to the top of the depressions because of the exclusion zones and we are often directly above the centre of the depression."Isolation there.....more than anywhere else in the middle of the Pacific?" Do we feel it? I don't know really, but we are aware we are far from everything that is for sure. Now we are just trying to cope with the conditions we have, here in the middle of the Pactific. Speaking with the technical team? We dont have anyone. We dont speak to our loved ones more than we would usually do. We are just focused on getting the boat going well and safely because it really is not easy in these conditions. The wind is very, very unstable - from 15 to 35kts - and very shifty - and it is not easy to trim. It does not give us much time for anything else. We get emails from family and friends and some of the news, and then from time to time a call. But they are much further apart than when we are solo."

Willy Garcia (ESP), We Are Water: "It is good day for us sailing in the Pacific, we have lighter winds which is OK as we had strong winds in the Pacific. And for the last days it is a bit calmer. We are sailing now for 49 days and have not seen land for 45 days so nothing is going to change. For us communications are important, not just with the Race HQ, but also with the family and friends, to share all our experiences aboard. I cannot imagine sailors doing it without it, they are very strong to do it without communications with the outside world. The family always ask about how it is, the experience, the weather, the kids ask about animals - any whales or dolphins or special birds, other friends ask about the race.

There are some friends who always tell us how they are in their comfortable house with fresh meat and heating. I appreciate these messages because they spice up the day a bit."

Following damage to their starboard rudder which became obvious between Sunday 15th and Monday 16th February Jorg Riechers (GER) and Sébastien Audigane on Renault Captur have made the decision to reroute to New Zealand to undertake a technical pit stop to try and make a more effective repair.

The duo, racing in fourth place in the Barcelona World Race, were 585 miles SE of the southerly tip of South Island NZ at 0500hrs UTC this Wedensday morning. They have yet to specify where they will head to but Invercargill was 650 miles NW of their position when they notified Race Direction of their intentions, and Wellington 750 sailing miles .

Riechers and Audigane believe it will take them about three days to reach a suitable landfall, sailing in mainly favourable SW and S'ly breezes which look set to become lighter as they close to New Zealand.

The German-French duo had attempted two repairs to the rudder blade so far but the boat has proven uncontrollable at higher speeds. Rather than risk damage to the other rudder and the possibilty of arriving at Cape Horn with very compromised steering, the pair have made the prudent decision to make their own safety and that of their IMOCA 60 as top priority.

"We are not abandoning the race. We are looking to f ind a solution." cautioned Audigane this morning in an explanatory e-mail from the boat. The pair were engaged in a match for second and third places, less than 200 miles behind third placed GAES Centros Auditivos.

Audigane noted:" Unfortunately downwind Renault Captur can not longer be controlled in the waves. The helm is extremely heavy and the boat veers left and right, broaching or luffing up. We have to reduce sail and drop our speeds, the boat not so flat and we are having to work hard at the helm."" In addition to the rudder problem, we also have a recurring problem with our keel and yesterday, in addition to the lack of stability of the boat, we had to work for 3 hours to set up the keel after the gybe, with the invaluable help of Bruno [Behuret, Renault Captur technical team) on the phone (he did not get much sleep that last night).After discussion with the technical team, we had to face the facts, for the safety of the boat and us, we have decided to head for New Zealand where will reach in about three days. During this time we are investigating solutions to rebuild the starboard rudder. We do not abandon the race we will try to fix it.It is clear that this decision is difficult to make, but it is a question of our safety and that of the boat. With my past experiences in these seas and on different boats, it would be unwise to continue with a boat without reliable steering.We know that in the Pacific Ocean rescue is very difficult or non-existent; We do not want to find ourselves stuck in trouble at Cape Horn, on port with a faulty rudder in a big seas. We also dont want to risk breaking the other rudder because it undergoes similar loads in these conditions.We both have family, a team, a sponsor and a racing organization who support us in our adventure but we do not take take unnecessary risks. We are going to protect ourselves and in the meantime think about how to fix this."

long one - from Cheminées Poujoulat which is approaching the mid-point of the Pacific, about to pass into Chilean waters tomorrow, to Spirit of Hungary 4000 miles back which is anticipating their passage of Cape Leeuwin. But the train is still continuuing to move rapidly eastwards in favourable conditions.

For all the world the three way battle for second step on the podium looked set to intensify, with all three of the protagonists, long time incumbents Neutrogena, third placed GAES Centros Auditivos and Renault Captur, all up for a sustained battle to the finish line.

But the attack of fourth placed Renault Captur looks set to be compromised because of an ongoing problem with their starboard rudder which means Jorg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane are having to reduce speeds to keep their boat under control. Three big successive Chinese gybes last night and early this morning were more than enough of a warning to the German-French duo of the need to back off, to reduce sail if they are to stay within the sensiblerealms of control. That has meant sailing with two reefs and the J2 and keeping speeds close to 15kts.

The problem appears to stem from yesterday's starboard ruder repair. A replacement carbon sleeve was fitted over the damaged rudder but, after speaking to the boat this morning, is seems like the temporary foil is moving or not rigid enough to take the loads when the Finot designed IMOCA 60 is moving at high speeds in the big seas and spins out.Renault Captur have had trouble with their rudders since the Atlantic. Initially the rudders are reported to have kicked up by themselves. That problem was solved in the Doldrums and again in the St Helena high. Their technical team reports that the rudders were blocked to avoid them kicking up in the Southern Ocean.

After the rudder blade was damaged it was repaired yestrday with a carbon "sock" slipping over the rudder and then stuck in place. The technical team are looking at possible solutions but Riechers seemed to think they will be hobbled for some time. His co-skipper Audigane said today:

"Last night when we were sailing higher at 125 TWA, there is no problem, we can control the boat, even with the [Auto] pilot it goes well. The problem is that when you have the bow down and the sea is a little cross; under these conditions is not right. Above 19 knots of wind, we lose control of the boat, the helm really loads up very heavy. It is like losing control of a car at 150kms/h. All we can do it keep in the reefs and stay slowed.We were happier because we had worked hard and got to within 190 miles of GAES Centros Auditivos. We can go a little slower, a little under sail when we are on port tack. So really our goal is to pass Cape Horn and to finish this round the world race. In the Atlantic it will be easier to race with a damaged rudder."

Renault may struggle to stay in the match for third, but for sure the tussle is only just hotting up. GAES Centros Auditivos have been keeping up the pressure on Neutrogena. Their deficit this afternoon is reduced to just 57 miles, but Guillermo Altadill and Jose Munoz are one knot quicker now and so that delta should stabilise at worst. The Spanish-Chilean partnership have been further south and appear to have just a little more speed.

Big Lead Big WindCheminées Poujoulat are not short of wind. Since this afternoon they have been into 30-35kts on the front of a low pressure system, leading by over 1100 miles from Neutrogena.We Are Water have been slowed, in a cell of high pressure between two lows, but Bruno and Willy Garcia should get out imminently and have a fast passage across into the Pacific.

Splendid IsolationOne Planet One Ocean are well past Cape Leeuwin but the second great cape for Didac Costa and Aleix Gelabert marked an emotional moment for the amateur duo. Costa admitted he still marvels at the speeds and ease of handling of their IMOCA 60, formerly Ellen MacArthur's Kingfisher:

"Perhaps because I have not been in the IMOCA so long but it still impresses me how these boats sail in the big south. The seas form and the boat accelerates and the noise is incredible. You think everything will explode. But it doesn't and it all happens again. It is addictive."But for all that they are in regular contact with Race HQ, the loneliness and isolation is palpable, and enduring:Costa says: "The truth is that yes there are times when you think how lonely you are here Before Good Hope the last human life we saw was a merchant ship. Since then there has not been a boat of any kind. The only life we see is birds."And the worst of life in the the information desert?"We know nothing about Barça, the football club. Which is unthinkable when you are in the city." he joked.

Skippers quotesJorg Riechers (GER) Renault Captur: "We have trouble with our new rudder. Whenever we get faster than 20kts then the rudder loses control. We did one big Chinese gybe last night and we could not stop two more just in the last few minutes. We cannot go faster than 18 or 20kts.The thing is the rudder tip broke two days ago and the rudder degraded more and more. And so we have this rudder sock and we thought it would be OK, and at first it wasn't. But in the second half of the night somehow it started to get really strange. The sock is not rigid enough to withstand the loads, so it changes shape and so the force on the two sides is different. And whenever you are in the waves it is bearing away hard or luffing hard and the pilot could not handle that. And even if you are hand steering it is so difficult to handle because the loads are too big. That is a big problem. Whenever we are in big surf we cant control the boat. So that the reason why we have reduced sails, we sail with the J2 and two reefs instead of the J1 and one reef. That sucks a little bit because we had made good ground on GAES tonight and now we are sailing with no teeth. It is really not good.There is no solution. The only solution is to go slow on port tack. On starboard we can go at 100 per cent. So when we sail on port tack we sail at 80 per cent, and so from now on it is a little bit like cruising, fast cruising. That really sucks.No there is nothing we can do. We can hope there is a lot of starboard tack sailing so we can attack. The other thing we have to hope is that our deficit at Cape Horn is too big so we can attack in the Atlantic and go for the podium.The thing is approaching Cape Horn with a lot of wind might be a lot of trouble for us. When the boat is not controllable in big surfs, then it might be a bit dangerous. There is nothing, unfortunately, that we can do it. "We are slightly tired. At 0230hrs everything was good, everything was rosy, but from then on it turned into a living nightmare, absolutely not good and we are completely gutted.

Alex Gelabert (ESP) One Planet One Ocean & Pharmaton: " It was a very good moment to pass Cape Leeuwin, very emotional, very good but now we are pointing to Cape Horn. For me that is the most emblematic of the three Capes we have to pass in the race. So we are very happy with that. And so now we would just like to arrive at Cape Horn soon and see what happens.We are reading a little bit of everything. There are books which were sent to us. And I am reading a book which is called ...... to relax a little.Yes, here we have internet connection but we dont use it to read the news. And the only news that we know from the world are the little things that our team and our families have been sending to us. We dont know anything about football, about FC Barcelona. We dont know what is happening on land.I speak to the family every day by email and since Barcelona we have spoken two times by phone, but no more. I have some emails with my father."

Neutrogena back racing after Kiwi pit stopWe Are Water on the Aussie Toboggan ride SEOne Planet One Ocean readying for Cape Leeuwin

After a pit-stop in Bluff, in the very south of New Zealand, which according to skipper Guillermo Altadill would have done an F1 motor racing team proud, Neutrogena is back on the Barcelona World Race course this Saturday afternoon but only making moderate speeds as Altadill and Jose Munoz try to plunge southwards with maximum speed to find the first east-bound low pressure system.

An inconveniently positioned high pressure system means that for the moment Neutrogena has not so much roared out of the pit stop in a cloud of burning rubber at 0530hrs UTC this morning as headed south at a fast clip. But the two very highly motivated skippers on board the boat which is back primed to 100 are fully rested and fired up ready to fight for maximum speed over each and every mile to the finish. The duo expected to be into stronger, favourable breezes by tomorrow.

The seven times circumnavigator pledged that he will not look at the rankings and torture himself over coming days. He plans to ignore as best as possible the fact that race leaders Cheminées Poujoulat have now escaped to be 936 miles ahead, nor indeed today's news that Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam are still hobbled by only light breezes themselves. Both first and second placed crews were making just 9.6kts this Saturday afternoon.

Altadill, in good humour and appreaciative of hi s shore team's coordintated quick efforts said " I will not worry, I dont want to look at the reports of the other boats. I know Cheminées is quite far in front. The boats behind were 1200 miles behind and probably they will be ahead of us, we don't know. I dont want to know. For the next week I will not check any position reports. I will just concentrate on our boat."

The Spanish skipper explained the engine problem which forced Neutrogena in to New Zealand was a chain of problems linked to water being taken into the engine and various electrical shorts. But the shore team made a thorough inspection of the boat, made excellent use of the mandatory minimum 24hrs, and - according to Altadill - found a few other lurking problems which were sorted which could otherwise have proven expensive.

Neutrogena still have 430 miles in hand over third placed Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín who in turn are 312 miles ahead of Renault Captur. The Sp anish pair have earned another dozen miles on the pursuing fourth placed Jorg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane.

Bruno and Willy Garcia on We Are Water have been negotiating a powerful storm north working SE along the exclusion line. The brothers are now at the "Australian toboggan run" where the Antarctic Exclusion zone slants SE and so they will likely escape the worst of the low. "The option is not faster but safer." said Bruno Garcia today. Tomorrow should be quieter for the Barcelona brothers.

Strong W'ly winds allow both One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton and Spirit of Hungary to profit nicely. Although they are separated by over 700 miles they are on the same weather system and both averaged 13kts today. Aleix Gelabert and Didac Costa were within 400 miles of Cape Leeuwin at 1400hrs this Saturday afternoon.

Skippers quotesGuillermo Altadill (ESP) Neutorgena:" The main engine runs the alternators which charge the batteries and we had a problem with the main engine which we could not start. We had our engineers there and they found water inside the engine for some reason. When we tried to start it many times then the pump was sucking water and then it started shorting out in a few places, so there was a chain of problems, but the main engine was not working. So we could not charge our batteries.

The shore team did an excellent job. In 24 hours they did all these jobs and put everything together, they got the parts and cleaned everything, and they did other things like the mast and sails. We loaded more food. Basically we did a mini refit in 24 hours, the guys did a great job to have us ready at the right time. So a big thanks to them. We have the boat at 100 per cent so we can keep pushing, keep going, keep fighting for the next 12,000 miles.We spent a few hours with the team going over a few things we needed to change and to check, then we got a dinner which was good. We had fresh food which was great after 40 days with no fresh food, and as well we slept in a dry bed. We took a shower this morning. That was a luxury for us. We woke up this morning really fresh, and in the last 24 hours we slept more than in the last 10 days. So now we are full on. Now the batteries are charged, not only the boat batteries but our own batteries, we are ready to keep racing.

Our plan is to get to the south and catch the first front, to go as fast as possible to recoup the miles and the one important thing is not to worry about the other boats, the strong ones or the ones in the back, we don't worry, we are ready to just push for the next 12,000 miles. So we found a few problems. We are sorted. We are very confident with the boat. We have made a positive from the pitstop. You lose miles but we checked the boat and so we keep sailing, we try to get to Cape Horn as fast as possible. I will not worry, I dont want to look at the reports of the other boats. I know Cheminées is quite far in front. The boats behind were 1200 miles behind and probably they will be ahead of us, we don't know I dont want to know. For the next week I will not check any position reports. I will just concentrate on our boat."

Bruno Garcia, ESP, We Are Water:"You get a good feeling when you pass each of these great Capes. But I have to say in each case that we have had difficult conditions so I have to say that it is not easy to cross one of these great Capes.It is not our objective to go south and get big winds and perhaps find risky conditions. We are not looking to gain perhaps 5%. So we want to avoid very, very difficult conditions to go sailing in, but if we are in the 50s, OK we will be there and it will be nice to tell our children that we were in the 50s once.

I am happy to know that we might get some nicer, warmer conditions, but to be honest it is three days since we have seen the sun or the stars. And since Good Hope I think we have seen the sun maybe on only one or two days so far.We Are Happy with what we have done but we dont feel like we have done nearly 50%. We still some immediate objectives, like crossing this depression. But the next objective is really getting into the Pacific."

It is one of those crazy moments that round the world ocean racers cherish, or at least amuses them, the antimeridian. When East becomes West. Sailing eastwards, at one hundred and eighty degrees east, it is not so much Live Another Day, as Live the Same Day twice. The clock goes back 12 hours and the day happens again, in theory!

For Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam, nine circumnavigations between them, passing the Antimeridian today is merely another nice reminder they homewards bound, closer to the finish than the start. Still making speeds north of 20kts and racking up 460-470 miles 24 hours runs, the Barcelona World Race leaders passed the Antimeridian at 1415hrs UTC today.

So at 0215hrs Friday their time, they revert to 0215hrs Thursday. They narrowly miss being able to claim Friday 13th part 2?

The Antimeridian is at 180 degrees to the Prime Meridian which passes through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England which sets the position of zero degrees of longitude. It was established in 1884 when the system of time zones and latitude and longitude were set.

Stamm and Le Cam's margin over second places Neutrogena has doubled since Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz made the tough decision to divert to pitstop in Invercargill, South Island Ne w Zealand early yestrday morning. The Spanish-Chilean partnership have had a rough time, with winds of more than 40 kts yesterday and big seas, as they make for the Kiwi haven.

"The guys have been taking it a little bit easy and careful given the conditions, they don't want to break anything on the way in. But we will be ready for them. We are set up for hopefully a fast repair, looking to ensure they dont take a second longer than the mandatory 24 hours. They have not been asking for anything other than the repair, they dont seem that bothered about comforts like showers and hot food, they just want to get on with it and get back out there." said Ross Daniel, Technical Director of 5 West, the team which owns and manages the IMOCA 60 programme.Neutrogena are due in for their pit stop early Friday morning UTC. A technical team comprising local Kiwi experts and a member of the 5 West shore team will be on the dock.

The Neutrogena team remain positive that they can be back on the race course swiftly, maintaining second place ahead of GAES Centros Auditivos. Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín were still 934 miles to the west of Neutrogena, having just sailed 406 miles in the last 24 hours. The GAES CentrosAuditivos pair should pass in to the Pacific tomorrow, Friday.Renault Captur'sJorg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane who remain about 285 miles behind GAES Centros Auditivos, took time today for a videoconference for Renault their sponsors, talking about the core values which they hold dear to making it work best between the two co-skippers:

" We make sure we spend time together. We don't just pass each other as we swap to go on deck. To perform on the water you have to be a team and work as a team, whether that is manoeuvres, navigation, maintenance, daily chores. You have to work hand in hand. We could not make it work as two individuals." said Audigane, while it was obvious from the candid images that the two enjoy a strong relationship, tempered ever stronger by battling through 50-60kt winds two days ago.

The Frenchman however noted wryly in an email that their 42 days to Cape Leeuwin felt slow compared to his 50 days Jules Verne record breaking circumnavigaton on Orange II exactly 10 years ago. With a 13 man crew skippered by Bruno Peyron that actually included race leader Bernard Stamm and Barcelona World Race Director Jacques Caraes,Audigane was part of the team which set the mark at 50 days, 16 hours, 20 minutes and 4 seconds, achieving an average speed of 22.2 knots.

We Are Water,Bruno and Willy Garcia are due to pass Cape Leeuwin this afternoon in fifth place. One Planet One Ocean'sAleix Gelabert and DidacCosta are emerging from a period of very strong winds and big seas, their first big Southern Ocean storm. And Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman have now passed the longitude of the Kerguelen Islands and are back up to 17kts.

Skippers Quotes:Conrad Colman (NZL) Spirit of Hungary:" We are enjoying our summer holiday in the Southern Ocean. We are clearly not here to win the race. We started on the back foot by having a boat which was not completely prepared and not having trained together and so the reality is we need to find other ways to motivate ourselves and other ways to find satisfaction for being here. We have had a few technical problems which are just the normal growing pains for a new boat like this. Instead of being upset about things which go 'bang'. Nandor and I are finding a great deal of satisfaction in repairing the situations that we find ourselves in, and simply staying out here. We have had a number of problems which could very easily have had us running to land as well. I am sorry to see Neutrogena having to make a techncial stop, but we are finding a lot of satisfaction in staying out here. We are always finding ways to improve, to improve ourselves and the boat for next time, which I ho pe will be, for both of us, the Vendée Globe."Sébastien Audigane (FRA), Renault Captur:"It is going well. We are a bit tired this morning. We had a problem with a gennaker sail yesterday adn we had to take it down and fix it. We had good materials, big self adhesive sheets of kevlar and we bond that with sikaflex on to the sail. We dried it an hour by running the engine, and then it was up and back in action.Today we have a strong NWly wind, 25 to 35kts and some seas which are well formed. Renault Captur is going fast, between 16 and 23kts. Our biggest problem is when we get cross seas, like the NW wind and SW swell you get when the depression is in the south.Our biggest difficulty was three days ago when we suddenly had gusts of 60kts. We had the smallest sails we can have. We took three reefs and the smallest jib. The seas were also very, very big. It was tough going, with the cold and tiredness. We really had to stick together as a team to get through it. We were changing watches every hour. And now we are bit fatigued."

Nandor Fa (HUN), Spirit of Hungary:" There is a lot of floating objects in the seas. We found a huge fishing net earlier, we found whatever it was nearly broke the rudder. There are too many things floating in the ocean, it would be much better to have a clean ocean. As far as we can, we take care of ourselves and the seas. "

After suffering an engine problem which affects their ability to generate electrical power, Guillermo Altadill (ESP) and Jose Munoz (CHI), who are racing in second place in the Barcelona World Race around the world, have taken the decision to reroute to the south of New Zealand to make a technical repair.

Altadill notified Race Direction at 0220hrs UTC this Wednesday morning of their decision, saying:" We have a problem in the main engine, and we cannot charge batteries, we are sailing to the South of NZ island to get spare parts and get back in the race again at 100%."

The Spanish-Chilean duo altered course to the NE around 0300hrs UTC this morning and had 585 miles to sail to Invercargill in the south of New Zealand's South Island. Altadill reckoned their ETA in Invercargill would be in about 40 hours.

Neutrogena are sailing in about 25kts of NW'ly breeze which is due to increase to 30kts with big seas.They are in regular contact with their shore team in England and with Race Direction which are tracking their progress closely.

Race rules require that any technical pit stop is a minimum of 24 hours duration and maximum eight days. After more than 40 days racing this is the first technical pit stop of the eight boat IMOCA 60 fleet which started from Barcelona on 31st January 2014.

Speaking by satellite phone this morning, Guillermo Altadill (ESP), said:" The last few days the engine which turns the alternator to charge the batteries has not been working well. This morning we tried to charge the batteries with the engine and the system would not work."" We dont have the battery system charging at all and so just now we are using the hydro generators just to maintain the battery system and to make water and to keep the electronics on. The only problem now is that the conditions are getting worse and worse, with a big sea state, and more wind. So we cannot use the hydros. So we have to economise for the next 40 hours. We have to hand steer and not use the electronics. We have made enough water to get to the south of New Zealand."" We are in contact with the shore team of 5 West in England. This morning they are meeting and probably will send a couple of guys and some people from NZ to come and help."" This happens in a marathon race like this one. It is part of the game, one of the things you have to face up to."" We are disappointed because we were trying to fight all the time for the last 40 days, to be at the front. We were in a good position waiting for our options and now we have to lose quite a lot miles. But the race is still long. We go there, we keep things together and keep racing. Who knows? If it happens to us it can happen to others."

With their long time rivals Neutrogena (Guillermo Alatadill and José Munoz), now heading to make a short pit stop in the south of New Zealand to repair their engine starter motor, Barcelona World Race leaders, Cheminées Poujoulat are left on their own in the Pacific.

In fact Stamm and Le Cam sailed their highest 24 hours run of the race yet to 1230hrs UTC this afternoon at 482.5 NM.But the sudden feeling of fighting on alone has hit long time pace makers Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam, neither of whom are strangers to such mechanical failures. Indeed they were quick to empathise with their challengers' enforced pit stop.

Neutrogena announced early this morning that they were diverting to Invercargill in the very south of New Zealand, 540 miles to their NE , after they could no longer get their engine to start. Unable to put power in their batteries using their primary charging source, the prudent decision was taken to head for a pit stop to replace the faulty part.

The Neutrogena team plan to take full advantage of the technical stop, a mandatory minimum of 24 hours, to ensure the IMOCA 60, leaves ready to take on the second half of the 23,455 mile course in 100% A1 shape.

Skipper Guillermo Altadill estimated it would take them 40 hours to reach the haven. Accordingly, 5 West, the English based team which manages the Neutrogena programme for this race, has put together a small technical team which will be on the dockside to meet Altadill and Munoz. A technical specialist was reported to be leaving the UK this Wednesday evening armed with the appropriate spares.

5 West's director Stewart Hosford emphasized:"This is precautionary and we feel the safest course of action for Guillermo and Jose."

On a satellite call this morning Altadill explained:"In the beginning I was thinking of stopping in one of the islands, Campbell Island maybe or Auckland, but they are uninhabited islands with nothing there. So the best place to go is South Island, New Zealand. That is where we are going" We dont have the battery system charging at all and so just now we are using the hydro-generators just to maintain the battery system and to make water and to keep the electronics on. The only problem now is that the conditions are getting worse and worse, with a big sea state, and more wind. So we cannot use the hydros. So we have to economise for the next 40 hours. We have to hand steer and not use the electronics. We have made enough water to get to the south of New Zealand. "

Although they have a hydrogenerator system to charge their batteries in the rough, high speed conditions of the Pacific it is regarded very much as a back up source of power.

Assuming the fix is made within the minimum 24 hours, it is estimated the pit stop will cost Neutrogena an additional 40 hours or between 350 and 400 miles of extra distance sailed compared with the direct route if they had carried on. Their target will be to leave ahead of third placed GAES Centros Auditivos, who were 1100 miles behind when Altadill and Munoz diverted around 0300hrs this morning.

The race leaders Stamm and Le Cam commented:"The current conditions are very tough and it is difficult to imagine continuing with serious problems like those that Guillermo and José are experiencing. The Pacific Ocean is huge. There really is a minimum requirement to be able to sail safely. If you don't have any power, that is not the case. I know that full well and I can tell you that Auckland Island isn't really the ideal place to carry out a pit stop. It must have been hard for them to come to this decision, but it is clearly the right one. We're really sorry for them, but there's still a long way to go and we know how determined the Neutrogena crew is. We can be certain that they will get back in the race raring to go, once they have solved their problem. We wish them all the best for the coming hours as they make their way to New Zealand."

Stamm, in particular, knows to his cost the problems associated with trying to make repairs at Auckland Island, one of the options Altadill mooted. Faced with a battery charging issue during the last Vendée Globe he stopped there and inadvertantly received mooring assistance which disqualified him from the solo non stop race which has strict rules disallowing outside help.

The Cheminées Poujoulat duo passed the theoretical midpoint of the race at 0021hrs this morning, 11,720 miles from the start and the finish. They crossed the longitude of New Zealand's South Island today making 19kts.

The misfortune of the second placed boat in turn ignites hopes for third placed Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin that they might get much closer to Neutrogena. The Spanish pair were making SE parallel to the exclusion zone at around 16kts. A spectacular double rainbow proved a welcome moment of wonder in the deep south for Corbella and Marín.

Sixth placed round the world rookies Aleix Gelabert an d Didac Costa on One Planet One Ocean were preparing for their biggest winds forecast yet for tonight, with 50-55kts gusts expected, while on Spirit of Hungary, Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman in seventh had a scare Tuesday when they hit a unidentified floating object. A composite repair was required to the rudder tie bar, but the Hungarian flagged IMOCA 60 is back up to speed today.

Aleix Gelabert (ESP) One Planet One Ocean:" Now we have 20kts of wind from the west. And for the next 24 hours we expect a low pressure will pass over us with an associated cold front and we expect that tonight will be a difficult night with winds to 40kts, maybe gusts to 50-55kts, depending. So now we are resting and waiting, resting and preparing the boat for these weather conditions in the next hours.We feel safe sailing in the north of the exclusion zone. We know that Marcel and Race Management have been working a lot of time about the ice limit to be safe. If it is possible there are some growlers coming out of the exclusion zone, we had a warning last night from race management about this situation, that there may be a possible growlers in our route and so we changed our course a little bit just in case. There is no need to put ourselves at any additional risk. We are in contact with race management and are very confident about this. There is no problem.

Our boat is a 14 years old boat which is a bit different in design from the new boats. If I could I would make the back of the cockpit open so that when you have a lot of water it goes out easily. I would make a roof as well which would allow us to drive without being wet and without feeling the freezing winds out of the south west. That is a dream for us. But here we are with our coachroof and so we dont think about it.We are thinking of Cape Leeuwin, yes, but it is four or five days away for us. It is very important to get to our second big Cape of the race, and it will be an honour to get there, and it will be a big day. And then Cape Horn is the next one!"

Cheminees Poujoulat and Neutrogena in Pacific, nearing race midpointGAES Centros Auditivos pass Cape LeeuwinWe Are Very Very Very Happy....Willy Garcia

Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam lead the Barcelona World Race from the Indian Ocean into the Pacific Ocean at 2130hrs UTC Monday night with a lead of over 240 miles ahead of Guillermo Altadill and Jose Munoz on Neutrogena.

As if on cue Stamm and Le Cam were greeted by a moderating sea state, a glimpse of blue skies and even slants of occasional sunshine as they closed their Indian Ocean odyssey with a 48 hours spell of their quickest sailing yet. Their best 24hrs run of the race, 479 miles, in the period up to 1900hrs yesterday evening.

The Spanish-Chilean pair Altadill and Munoz show every sign of keeping up the relentless pressure that they have maintained on the leaders so far. As the strong breeze abated and the seas dropped, Neutrogena rallied with a 14 miles gain this morning. They too passed into the Pacific at speed, crossing the 146 deg E longitude at 1020hrs UTC, after also passing some 400 miles south of Hobart.

The Cheminées Poujoulat duo were pleased to have passed into the Pacific - even if Jean Le Cam sounded fatigued and typically downbeat - it is the first of three big moments this week for the leaders. This Tuesday after noon they had about 250 miles to make to the midpoint of the theoretical course distance which is now 23440 miles. And racing at 152 deg East, Le Cam was looking forwards to the AntiMeridian or International Date Line, which he said they anticipate later in the week, in around 60 hours. By whatever measure chosen certainly by the week's end they should be getting ever closer to home than further away.

For the chasing pack such milestones are often an important boost to morale, making their own targets feel that much closer.

Monster at Leeuwin Longitude for GAESIn turn GAES Centros Auditivos passed their second Great Cape together early this morning. Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin crossed the longitude of Cape Leeuwin at 0045hrs UTC. The duo took time when they could to celebrate with a photo and some jamon, but they had a very tough night which was precluded by a 'monster' squall, according to Corbella:

" The first squall came as we expected, stronger though, sailing with a sailplan which would take us to 28kts, reef and A7. and then when I was sleeping I heard Gerard shouting:"Annaaaaaaaaaaaaa Coooooooooome!!!!!!"

" I looked across to the wind indicator and, shit, it said 47kts. I got out as fast as I could and saw Gerard on the helm. Fully concentrated to not lose control. I told him to hang on and I would roll away the sail myself. It is not wise to go on to the pilot. Bearing in mind I was asleep two minutes ago I was on the pedestal winch and was amazed at the speed I could turn it when I needed to. I kept on and on with all my strength thinking it would be rolled in, but it was not. I looked through the hail and could see that the furler had broken. "

Corbella is about four days quicker to Cape Leeuwin than the last edition which she sailed with British mentor Dee Caffari. She and Marin have made more miles on fourth placed Renault Captur. Jorg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane had around 100 miles to the Cape Leeuwin line this morning and were making 14.8kts to GAES 15+kts.

Skippers quotes.Jean Le Cam, FRA, Cheminées Poujoulat:Conditions in the Pacific ?"The skies have cleared a bit, we have winds of 20-25 knots and downwind at the moment. These are better conditions now as the last few days have been a bit hard. The seas have calmed down a bit an hour or two ago. You get used to everything so it feels OK. It does not feel so bad after two days of big winds, so it is not too bad, there is some blue skies and even some sunshine."High speeds, conditions or pushing hard?"We're not quite as fast as we have been, but that's fine. The sea is calmer though, which should allow us to go faster again. The seas were good before and meant we could go faster. It is always the sea state and not the wind which slows boats down. At times you just cannot fight it."

How do you sail as the hunted rather than the hunter?It is better this than the opposite, right? But they are quick too. You have to watch them too. It is not easy.

Pacific and almost at the midway point, how does it feel?"We will have had a real good look at the boat and taken stock. It's all OK. The diesel level is good. We have checked the main things. We will pass the Anti Meridian in 60 hours, we are at 151 deg east, so in 60 hours we will move from east to west.

The cold?"Today it does not feel cold at all. As soon as the N'ly winds it is OK, pretty good, but then we will have a bit of time with the S'ly and they come straight off the ice. Then it's cold. So then we dress up warm, and we have a little heater which is good. You put it on it dries the inside of the boat, it is nice. And to sleep it is good too. It is great, Meantime we are all good, a bit tired after a hard day, but no worries."

Willy Garcia, ESP, We Are Water:" We are well, we have good sailing conditions right now. For the next few days we are going to have more wind from the NW, and for Friday strong NW winds. At least that wind is from the back, so we will make a lot of miles.

For the first days in the Indian Ocean you are impressed so much by the cold, the grey skies and the seas, the waves are high and there is always more wind in the forecast. But in a few days you get used to sailing here. Tonight we will have 25 to 30kts and for Friday 30-35kts. At the beginning of the cold days we ran the heater for a day and after that it stopped. So it would not switch on again but thanks to the help of our technical team and Cheminées Poujoulat's we can have it running. It is very important now and for the days to come. Every four days we email to One Planet One Ocean and also to Cheminées Poujoulat, sometimes with GAES also.

We are very, very, very happy with our race. For us it was just great to be at the start, now to be in the south, near to Australia is nearly a dream.

Anna Corbella, ESP, (GAES Centros Auditivos):" We finally left behind the 'monster' which made us suffer so much these last few hours. We are now in the back of the front a bit. The first squall came as we expected, stronger though, sailing with a sailplan which would take us to 28kts, reef and A7. and then when I was sleeping I heard Gerard shouting:"Annaaaaaaaaaaaaa coooooooooome"

I looked across to the wind indicator and, shit, it said 47kts. I got out as fast as I could and saw Gerard on the helm. Fully concentrated to not lose control. I told him to hang on and I would roll away the sail myself. It is not wise to go on to the pilot. Bearing in mind I was asleep two minutes ago I was on the pedestal winch and was amazed at the speed I could turn it when I needed to. I kept on and on with all my strength thinking it would be rolled in, but it was not. I looked through the hail and could see that the furler had broken. Another thing to fix. Luckily the squall passed over us quickly and we waited for the night. And what a night it has been, a real show of big winds and waves!

Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam set the fastest 24 hours run of this edition of the Barcelona World Race so far making 478 miles to 1400hrs this Monday afternoon on Cheminées Poujoulat.

The Swiss-French duo should enter into the Pacific Ocean early tomorrow morning and hold a lead of 237 nm over second placed Neutrogena. The race's only two paired skippers who are both aged over 50, racing at near 50 degrees south the vastly experienced pairing have been able to maintain high averages propelled by favourable conditions on the leading edge of a low pressure system. Cheminées Poujoulat have gained an extra 26 miles on their margin to Guillermo Altadill and Jose Munoz over that same period.

Their 24 hrs maximum for this edition of the Barcelona World Race still falls about 38 miles short of the 24 hours record for the race which was set on January 22nd 2011 by Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron. But for comparison their IMOCA 60 Virbac Paprec 3 was a brand new generation at the time, whilst the current Cheminées Poujoulat was launched in 2007 as Michel Desjoyeaux's Vendée Globe winning Farr desig ned Foncia. Stamm has been quicker before, setting his own mark at 507 miles solo in the Vendée Globe in December 2012.

Stamm and Le Cam will pass into the Pacific in good shape. Last time they sailed this stretch of water they were fifth and sixth in the Vendée Globe, Stamm lead his current co-skipper by more than 700 miles.

Comparisons for this race with previous editions of the Barcelona World Race become more and more difficult in real terms now. In fact the real pace set by Stamm and Le Cam is close to that of the race leaders in 2010-2011 but recall that Dick and Peyron stopped into Recife for 48 hours. And now, from this point as they enter the Pacific, in previous editions the leaders would be starting an ascent north to pass through the Cook Straits between North and South Islands New Zealand. This is the first edition to pass directly south of New Zealand, trimming about 2000 miles off the original cour se distance. And of course Dick and Peyron also made a technical stop in New Zealand. So for sure, this race should be faster and it is already closer between first and second.

The intensity for the battle for third and fourth has also been raging harder these past 36 hours because of the tough, strong wind conditions which have been affecting GAES Centros Auditivos and Renault Captur. Fourth placed Renault Captur's German co-skipper Jorg Riechers was succinct when asked today how conditions are:"Windy" He replied.

And when posed the relatively standard off the shelf question by a young Spanish school pupil by satellite phone today, 'what has been your worst moment of the race so far?' Riechers responded that last night's big gybe had been pretty hairy. In big seas and winds to 55kts, the southern ocean rookie was not sounding too enamoured with the the notoriously hostile region baring its teeth.

Skippers quotes:

Sébastien Audigane (Renault Captur) :Weather conditionsWe have between 25 and 40 knots of wind from the SW. It's tending to shift a bit. A while ago, we gybed. During the night we had to gybe close to the exclusion zone. We had a good angle from the NW and during the night, we don't know why, it backed to the west, which meant we lost a lot of miles to GAES, as it looks like they stayed longer in the NW than us. This morning the westerly is due to back SW'ly and that seems to be happening now, so we have gybed again. These are fairly tricky conditions with 7-8m high waves and heavy squalls. During the night we had up to 57 knots. It is calming down during the day.

Ok on board?Everything is fine. It's not very comfortable though. We have got ourselves organised and do watches for an hour and a half to two hours. It all depends.

Attack GAES?We don't really feel like we are on the attack. We have been sailing rather cautiously except on two occasions. Once yesterday evening and once a couple days ago. These were short periods during which we set the cursor a bit higher, but it didn't last very long. The rest of the time, we have played it safe. In any case, the conditions mean you can't go crazy. You have to keep an eye on the equipment. We haven't really gone on the attack. We just find the right angle carrying out gybes. So far, we have coped well and were a bit disappointed by what happened during the night, as we had a decent angle, but the weather is like that. Maybe it was because we were further south and west than GAES... It doesn't matter that much. There is still a long way to go and plenty to do.Cold?I'm still not feeling cold. It is cooler now, but it's not that bad for the moment. Yesterday evening I changed foulies. I put on the dry suit, but I still have a thin fleece on and one under layer. It's very wet inside the boat. The duvets are really wet outside we have to protect them in a bag. It is the atmosphere you expect in the south. It isn't that cold, but we closed the watertight doors to get some warmth and we have two protective tarpaulins outside which stop the cold and damp from getting in. Apart from that we're getting ourselves some hot food and that seems to be the solution for the moment.

Anna Corbella (ESP) GAES Centros Auditivos:" We have gone from the tropical summer to the winter. Now we have 30-35 knots of wind. Now it's easing, we have had up to 45 knots a while ago, with showers and some hail also, and a very difficult sea, with very big waves. It hasn't been easy for the boat, but now we are passing it and it seems the wind will go down a bit.We are not cold at the moment and we do have heating. We can't have it switched on all the time because it works with diesel, but till now we have saved a lot of diesel and we have enough to be able to use the heating till cape Horn, something like 2 hours each night. Apart from giving us some warmth, what it also does is to dry the boat inside and then all the electronics work better. The cold for the moment is not a problem."